Visiting Gen Con 2011

Posted by Ranillon on 11. August 2011 01:13

Last week was Gen Con 2011 and like every year I made sure to visit for a few days.

While it was as fun as ever I have to say -- sadly -- that the convention looked smaller than previously.  Attendance seemed lower and the dealer's room was certainly smaller than usual.  Likewise, whereas in earlier years gaming, miniatures, and card games all had their own individual large rooms this year they were all brought together in a single (still quite large) room.  That doesn't mean that Gen Con was "small" by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems that this lousy economy has hit Gen Con like everywhere.

Yet, to be truthful it wasn't that I found really despressing.  No, that came when I was walking through the miniatures section and seeing just about every mini game I could think of being played -- except, that is, for ANY Games Workshop games.  I saw Battletech, Herocliks, War Machine, Dystopian Wars -- pretty much everything.  Many had crowded tournaments going.  Yet, not one single Warhammer, 40K, Battlefleet Gothic, Blood Bowl, or any other GW product game.

Nice Looking Battletech Board at Work

It wasn't always like this.  The first few times I was at Gen Con there were entire Warhammer and 40K tournaments.  Later on there were at least some few boards of GW stuff being played.  But, this time I couldn't find a single one anywhere.  Admittedly, I didn't check every day and hour of the convention, but by any measure the Games Workshop presence was eclipsed by...well, every other miniatures company out there.

Why Isn't There a Similar Sized Space Marine to Contend with this Warmachine Warjack?

In the past you could almost understand GWs disinterest in visiting places like Origins or Gen Con -- they had their own conventions.  But, those have been reduced to almost nothing (with Independent GTs like ours taking up the slack).  Besides, since when it is a bad thing to expose your product to tens of thousands of potential fans?  I just don't understand the GW approach here, but I hope they see how they are hurting their hobby and reverse this trend of distancing themsevles from their own best customers.

Now on to some pretty pictures, namely many of the winners from the Gen Con painting contest (Click to Biggie Size):