Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 7/9/2008
Posts: 4,729
Location: Chicago
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Gen Con is one of the most amazing events on Earth. And Star Wars Miniatures has always always been the shining beacon of a highlight there for many of us.
There is a ton of work put in to make it all happen, before and DURING the actual convention.
First and foremost - Massive thanks to the most epic effort put in from Laura and Jason K (UrbanShmi and urbanjedi). They worked tirelessly before and during the convention. I'm not exaggerating when I say that giving your TIME at Gen Con is the biggest sacrifice, as there is SO MANY amazing things going on all the time. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.
Thanks to all those who helped run tournaments and events while there. (forgive me I don't know who else specifically helped in this capacity, so let's please give credit where it's due)
Thanks to Mike G who masterminded the process and 3-D printed most of the minis and all the fantastic painters who made the sealed tournament possible. (Love to see a list of the artists to give them kudos!) Also all those that contributed in other ways as well, such as putting the boosters together.
Thanks to all the PLAYERS who showed up. Real life gets in the way for a lot of people, and different people have different priorities. But the few, the dedicated, the stalwart, - SHOWED UP, and PLAYED OUR GAME, LIVE IN-PERSON. Sincerely thank you. We literally could not play without players, so I'm grateful for you all.
Thanks also to all of you out there in Bloomilkland who followed along and supported in other ways from afar. Next year - step up and make the trip. Set aside the time now. Start saving now. Do what must be done. Let's get our number AT GEN CON back up. We did have multiple players with us for the first time at Gen Con (Shout out to the WI crew!) I personally talked 5 friends into coming to Gen Con for the first time this year (unfortunately not minis players), and every one had always been hearing about Gen Con but never took the leap. Every one of them had a BLAST and were thankful they finally got off the fence. Stop reading the reports and being jealous that you aren't there. Step up and make the trip. Gen Con 2024 is August 1–4. Put it in your calendars now!
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Rank: Moderator
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Joined: 2/17/2009
Posts: 1,322
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Thanks for the thanks! Jason and I loved putting everything together (even though it is a LOT of work and we often didn't know if it would all get done). Even though we were the ones responsible for almost everything onsite, James was definitely still a big presence in the organization and putting things together, so thanks to him, as well. I had a blast earning my GM badge for the first time running three pod racing events. Next year, we hope to be back close to the level of involvement we had pre-pandemic, with many more events, GMs, and badges to hand out.
Even though I was injured for 3/4 of the con so I didn't get to do all the things I had planned on, it was overall a great con for the Urbans, and a great con for minis. We officially were at better than 100% attendance (due to overflow at the champs and sealed), which makes it highly likely we will be able to run all the events we want to next year. Unfortunately, it is a year-to-year thing where every year's attendance makes a huge difference to how much we can do and how many people we can accommodate. Thanks to all the players who showed up for us--this community is awesome!
I also want to shout out to Trevor (tint), who kept on top of us until we could get him the champs squad information so he could post it for us. Sometimes Gen Con is like its own little bubble and it's hard to engage outside of that.
Hopefully Mike will be able to give more info on the customs project--it's been great having most of that responsibility taken over by him in the last few years, and he's done a fantastic job! Also thanks to Randy for hosting several of us in his lovely home for the weekend. We made a lot of great memories and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
We are always happy to have people help with Gen Con, so please reach out to us (or even better, directly to James W.) if you are interested in helping at any level (planning, running events, transporting things, etc.). Making this happen is a huge effort and we can always use more people.
Once again, thanks to everyone who attended and everyone who couldn't but followed along at home. You are the reason this game still exists after so many years. Even though we didn't draw huge crowds with AT-ATs and Ewoks this year, we still had a great time and look forward to doing it all again next year, and for many years to come. Long live SWM! Long live Bloomilk!
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 8/26/2008
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Location: Kokomo, IN
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Indeed, thanks so much to everyone who ran, helped, or performed any function which helped us have our little section of the big GenCon.
Here is the list of the painters/customizers who helped make the Sealed event sweet:
AceAce (me): Design, printing of 3D minis for the event, and painting G0-T0, Elite S. Acolyte, San Hill, Crab Droid, Tactical Droid, Mod, Pit Droid, Security Patrol Droid
Jason/Laura Kiernan: D-0, Lumiya, Imperial Field Commander, GA Void Jumper, Han Solo, Monghei Shai, Cov, Orn Free Taa, Gatekeeper Droid
N3rdSl4y3r (Drew): Purge Stormtrooper, Cid, Undercover Spy, Goldenrod C-3P0, Killik Queen
Naarkon (Stephen): Revan, Prodigal Knight, Darth Vader, Revanchist, Jedi Corporal
gholli69 (Greg): Feln, Cassian Andor, Luthen Rael, Vong/Swoop, Pyke SS, Gamorrean Gladiator, Paz Vizsla
Destrozod (Sam): Jyn Erso
DarkDracul (Bryan): Darth Malak, Alderaan Royal Guard, Master Dooku, Yuzzem, Jedi Master
Randy (Randy): Wittin, Shadow Scout, Mando Super Commando, Old Daka, Rebel Operative
TimmerB123 (Tim): Printed identifying stickers for each mini's base making them better in every way
**** Hope I didn't miss anyone. The sealed just gets better and better quality miniatures. The painter group expanded this year and we are way, way better for it. Killer painting!! Thanks again to everyone.
**** Next year, if anyone wishes to join us and paint some for the 2024 Sealed event, please let me know. We will have N3rdSl4y3r and DarkDracul 3D printing as well so it will help immensely.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Joined: 7/2/2018
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Location: Wisconsin
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+1 to all that above. I was glad to be able to finally make it out to GenCon. It was a great weekend and all the events went so smoothly, thanks to everyone for all the effort that went into this.
I also do not want to steal the credit for Cid and Undercover Spy, since they were not from me.
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Rank: Moderator
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Joined: 2/17/2009
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Yes, Jason did the Cids.
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