GASPcon 15, Nov 14-16 [Pittsburgh, PA]

[Axoid]

What:: GASPcon 15
Where:: Monroeville Convention Center (updated venue)
When:: November 14th through 16th


Player pre-registration and event sign-ups are now open, through November 4th.


GASPcon is entering its 15th year, and we are celebrating by continuing with a 3rd day of gaming (Friday) that we started several years ago. Even better, pre-registration prices are just $30 USD for the entire weekend. GASPcon runs 24hrs a day from opening till close (6pm on Sunday). We will also continue to accept credit card payments at the convention through Square.

To register for the convention and to see a preliminary event list, go to the following link. Warhorn works differently than in past years, now you just register once for Warhorn, then you can select as many events as you want, using the single registration. Of course, each event must be paid for separately if they require payment (like GASPcon). If you already registered and paid for the con, your account will be ready for event sign-up at noon today.

https://warhorn.net/events/gaspcon-15

Registration will remain open for GM submissions and Player/Event sign-ups until Sunday November 4th

Board games will be running all weekend long, and with our extensive and free board game library, you can check-out a different game every time you sit down to play. There will also be a board game demo team on-hand to teach you how to play several select games donated to the club by retailers.

There is also a mix of Role-playing games running throughout the weekend. There are both independent publisher games, as well as your favorite D&D and Star Wars RPGs. The RPGA will also be running Living FR all weekend long, with first-run events for the living campaign.

Your favorite CCG's will also get some play, with several Magic events being held.

We had an explosion of miniature event submissions this year, so there are many other events scheduled throughout the weekend, including Frag-A-Rama, You Sunk my Battleship (AA War at Sea), Infinity, Sergeants Miniature Game, X-Wing, and Sails of Glory. GASPcon 15 will see the return of the outstanding Classic BattleTech Poker Run on Saturday, where the object is to collect poker cards by killing your opponents, and the winner is the player with the best hand.

Sunday is the featured Signature Miniatures Event, which this year will be the long awaited Robotech Tactics game. 10 players will battle on and over Macross Island, as the Zentradi and UDF struggle for control of the precious Protoculture!

Note – We continue to receive new event submissions and will be posting RPGA events in the coming weeks so remember to check the registration site for updates.

Return of the Silent Auction
The silent auction returns again for GASPcon 15. Whether you are a buyer or seller, you'll find plenty going on with the auction. See the following thread for full details. A tentative schedule is listed below (subject to change).
http://eonsreach.com/gaspforum/index.php?topic=7060.0

Schedule
Auction 1 – Fri 2PM – 6:30PM
Auction 2 - Sat 8:30AM - 1:30 PM
Auction 3 - Sat 2PM - 6:30 PM
Auction 4 - Sun 8:30AM - 12:30 PM
Payout Sunday 7:30 PM


Registration Fees
Pre-registration (through Nov 4th)
$30 Full Weekend (Knights $22.50)
$10 Friday only (Knights Free)
$15 Sat Only (Knights $11.25)
$15 Sun Only (Knights $11.25)

Onsite
$40 Full Weekend (Knights $30)
$15 Friday only (Knights Free)
$25 Sat Only (Knights $20)
$20 Sun Only (Knights $15)


You can find out more about GASP and GASPcon at http://www.gaspgamer.com

***Reminder*** In order to sign up for events you must send in your PayPal payment before your account will be cleared.

See you at the con!

Thanks,
Don McCalmon


Venue Information::
Monroeville Convention Center (South Main hall)
209 Mall Plaza Blvd
Monroeville, PA 15146

[Gogal]

Is this still happening?

[Gogal]

Wanted to add for people who haven't followed the link (and my posts are still moderated and I want the mods to have a better understanding of my previous comment), the registration page says you lost your site. Any new venue, location, and dates?
(God, I do not miss running cons)

[Axoid]

Yeah, it's been a crazy 2 weeks. We met with the hotel on the 26th of September, and they assured us everything would be ready. Then we get the call that, well, maybe not, then it turns into nope.

We'll know Monday if either will be available and work within our budget. I'll post here (and everywhere else I posted about the con) once we get it worked out or know if we need to cancel. In 15 years, this is our first major issue, and really not our fault. Hasn't been too much of a hassle until this year.

Thanks,
Don

[Axoid]

We just confirmed we have a new venue, the Monroeville Convention Center. It's about 4x the space as the hotel we were at. Fri-Sun, 24hrs, so no change in any events.

Spread the word!

Thanks,
Don

[Axoid]

GASPcon is this weekend, with a huge 10-player Robotech RPG Tactics game on Sunday (a few spots still open). If you're in the area, stop by to game, or just say hi. Ask for Don (me).

Say "Robotech RPG Tactics Rocks!", and get $5 off the onsite weekend admission price!

Thanks,

[Chronicler]

How close to this is it to Johnstown PA? I couldn't make it to coldwars in Lancaster and I'm really want to get my wargaming on.

[Gogal]

I was hoping to be able to make it... My copy isn't set to arrive till tomorrow and I won't have enough time to build anything ;-;

[Axoid]

How close to this is it to Johnstown PA? I couldn't make it to coldwars in Lancaster and I'm really want to get my wargaming on.

Johnstown to Monroeville is about an hour's drive. You'd probably want to get a hotel room, there are hotels within a 5 minute drive that are sub $100 per night.

Thanks,

[Axoid]

I was hoping to be able to make it... My copy isn't set to arrive till tomorrow and I won't have enough time to build anything ;-;

I got the last of the minis painted last night, so we are set to go fully painted!

[Premier]

Hey Axoid, this sounds awesome. Is there ANY chance that the RRT game on Sunday can be recorded for us gamers stuck elsewhere to see the awesomeness?!

[Axoid]

Hey Axoid, this sounds awesome. Is there ANY chance that the RRT game on Sunday can be recorded for us gamers stuck elsewhere to see the awesomeness?!

Great idea but unfortunately I'll be too busy running it to take video of the whole event. But maybe I can record a round or two, thanks for the idea. I'll be taking pictures and will post an AAR next week.

Thanks
Don

[Axoid]

GASPcon was a huge success, we had a record attendance and the venue was top-notch.

The RRT game had a full 10 players signed-up, but 4 ended up not showing up on time, so we started with the 6 we had. The scenario was a bit rough and needs some tweaks, but I feel everyone enjoyed the game itself. I took a bunch of pictures and a little video. Give me this week to get it all organized and I'l post it up for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks,
Don

[Axoid]

I posted an AAR on the Google+ site, with pictures. I'll repeat the AAR hear, but you'll need to head over there to see the pics. I also took a video of a portion of one round, some movement and some ranged combat. I'll be editing it this week, and should have it up over the weekend on YouTube.

https://plus.google.com/109207726702680 ... XZcPcWdECj

Enjoy

GASPcon Robotech RPG Tactics (RRT) event After Action Report

GASPcon was this past weekend, and we held a large RRT event on Sunday morning. 10 player had registered for the event, and myself and my painting crew had worked the past 2 weeks to have every miniature painted and ready for the event. The board was set-up in 2 sections, the city outskirts (a Mega Mat with some Epic 40K buildings and some vehicles scattered about) and the city proper (Dropzone Commander paper city pack with vehicles and people scattered about). The Zentraedi started at the city outskirts and the UEDF started at the city proper.

5 players were not there at 9am, so we gave them an additional 30 minutes. They still had not shown up by 9:30am, so we started with the 5 players that were there. They were split into 2 Zentraedi players (running 3 squadrons) and 3 UEDF players (running 1 squadron each). Some of the opposing squadrons had linked mission objectives, so I removed the paired ones.

On the UEDF side we had
• Roy Fokker and his Valkyrie Squadron (2x VF-1R upgrades) – slight rules break, Roy piloted a VF-1J mainly to keep the points balanced
• Rick Hunter and his Valkyrie Squadron (2x VF-1R upgrades)
• Kain Weller running in a Close Quarters Squadron (Shock Batons upgrade, with 2x Defenders as support added in).

On the Zentraedi side we had
• Khyron and his Attack Squadron (Veteran Warriors upgrade, with a Quel-Regult added in)
• Azonia and her Attack Squadron (Veteran Warriors upgrade, with a Quel-Regult added in)
• Recon Squadron led by Pirion-Galarr

Each player had their own mission they needed to complete for VPs. The side with the most VPs at the end would be the winning side.

So first a few hindsight notes about the setup and the scenario. The board was 4 feet wide by 8 feet long, which was about 2 feet too long. In addition, the scenario was not play tested prior to running the event, so some tweaks were in order to balance the game play. Finally, with all new players, the event time was too short for the given board size and missions, especially with the half-hour delay. I had it set up and ready for 10 players, which would definitely have been too many. The scenario has already been tweaked to be 6 players maximum, but still have 10 squadrons to choose from. The missions are not decided ahead of time now, but presented to the players and they can decide how many of the 6 missions they want to try and complete (1 minimum), along with which squadrons to take to complete them. Any missions they take and don’t complete will be worth negative VPs. So with the shorter board, 6 players max, and the ability to select squadrons and missions, a 4-hour window should be sufficient.

Mission Objectives (neither side new the other side’s mission. Also, the players were not allowed to share their mission details with their team mates, the thought being the attack came so quick there wasn’t time to debrief everyone. This will change in v02)

UEDF Missions
• Roy: Evacuate some civilians trapped on the far side of the city proper. Get to them, give them new directions for evacuation, and make sure they arrive at the evac zone (either physically escort them or block the enemy from pursuing them)
• Rick: Some vital military supplies were stranded in the city, take your squadron out, retrieve the containers, and get them back off your board edge
• Kain: Use hand-to-hand combat to disable some enemy Mecha, for reverse engineering purposes

Zentraedi Missions
• Khyron: Feed your blood lust and personally kill one of each different enemy Mecha type. Bonus points if you kill all 5 types of enemy Mecha
• Azonia: Get at least half your squadron off the enemy’s board edge
• Pirion: Protect your squadron’s Quel-Regult as it moves to 3 different vantage points around the city, to capture details images of the enemy’s forces

Back to the event, the Zentraedi entered from the outskirts of the city, while the UEDF started on the other side of the city proper. The first few turns were all movement, with both sides trying some boosts to get to their objectives faster. Rick’s squadron was the most successful, as he got to the 3 containers and used Battloid mode to start carrying them back towards his board edge. Rick sent the forth Valkyrie out to engage the enemy and slow them from pursuit of the containers. Roy and his squadron also boosted to try and get to the civilian vehicle, with Roy being more successful at it, leaving his other 3 Valkyries a bit further behind him. Kain’s Squadron was horrible at trying to boost their speed, and slowly marched through the city streets. In fact, Rick’s squadron was working their way back through the city and passed Kain’s squadron as they were still walking towards the enemy. Azonia and Pirion moved up the left side of the city outskirts, working their way towards the first Recon photo objective and towards Roy’s squadron. Khyron worked the right side of the city outskirts, opposed mainly by one of Rick’s Valkyries and the slow moving Close Quarters squadron.

Combat started with Roy’s squadron firing missiles at the approaching Zentraedi, before switching to Battloid mode. A few pods were hit, but they were able to either anti-missile or spread the damage in close formation, while also rolling with the impact. A lot of missiles were fired but only 1 battle pod fell. Roy got to the civilian vehicle, just as the Zentraedi got within weapons range. Some fire was exchanged back and forth, but without any support from his lagging squad mates, Roy was overwhelmed with enemy fire and fell (he failed his 4+ save roll). Fortunately, before he died the civilian vehicle was directed back towards the evacuation route, and managed to get out of LoS of the enemy (it would eventually make it back to safety). Since the enemy didn’t know Roy’s mission was to get the civilian vehicle moving in the right direction, they completely ignored it and fired all weapons at Roy. Even though he died (along with another squad mate), they managed to complete their mission and score their VPs.

While all of this was going on, the Recon Squadron was able to get to one of its three vantage points and successfully take photos. They began moving towards the second vantage point, but never reached it due to time limit.

On the right side of the board, Khyron made it half way across before finally being met with any resistance. Rick’s lone squadron mate laid into Khyron’s squadron with 2 rounds of missile fire, but the Zentraedi’s anti-missile fire was dead-on, and only 1 Regult fell. By this time Kain had made a few successful boosts, but not the rest of his squadron. He closed into close combat with two Regults, but he must have been hung over because he missed every single H2H attack (5 of them, 3 free plus 2 paid with command points). The rest of his squadron was firing into the remaining Zentraedi, but couldn’t hit the broad side of a Zentraedi Battle Cruiser. Only 1 more Regult fell to UEDF fire. Khyron’s return fire killed Rick’s squad mate, as well as 3 of Kain’s squad, including Kain himself.

At this point, the 4 hours was about up. Rick had just dropped off the 3 containers, and was working back towards the enemy. The civilian vehicle was safely out of LoS of the enemy, and was working back to the evac zone. Kain’s Squadron was not able to complete its objective, disabling zero enemy Mecha. Khyron had personally killed 3 different enemy Mecha types, scoring a bunch of VPs for his side. The recon Regult captured ½ of its photos, but Azonia was not able to make it far enough to score any VPs. VPs were tallied, and the Zentraedi came out on top, mainly due to Khyron’s impressive kill tally.

Check out the photos for some inspiration, and I’ll be posting a video of a portion of the game play later this week. We'll be replaying the v02 of the scenario in a week or so, I'll post how that game went. Once I get the scenario finalized, I'll post it here.

Enjoy,
Don

[Phaze]

<<<ack>>> <---- utterly speechless

Wow.... Nice Game. Wish I would have gone.

[LtPebbles]

Nice pics! Thanks for sharing.

[Alpha 11]

Thanks for the pictures!