Ardacon 2017

This is an unusual update in that it is going to be 100% about my trip to Ardacon this weekend (if you are unsure what Ardacon may be then read on) and won't deal with my normal day to day at all other than the first paragraph. Normal service will resume in the next update.

Eating our Chicken and Rice on the balcony

A wonderful harvest of apples

Lots of sawdust for our humanure toilet

Blackberries and Marrows from the garden being made into chutney

The finished product

Super steak for dinner

Out harvesting more blackberries (and getting scratched to bits)

Sunday dinner was the lovely Chicken and Rice dish (click the link to see the recipe) eaten on the balcony underneath the gazebo and was the last time we have been able to use said gazebo as the really gusty winds of the Monday took their toll and pushed it over once again. I still think it is salvageable but it was a bit of a kick in the teeth to see it damaged once more. Monday wasn't all bad as other than working I got to go out and harvest plenty of stuff including a bag full of apples from the blown-over tree which is producing more this year than any previous year. I also collected the marrows which have been left to develop on our courgette plants. Dinner was a really lovely steak that I ate while on a business call; they kept trying to talk to me when I had my mouth full! Tuesday I headed over to collect sawdust for our toilets from the carpenter and came back with Thomas full up, then in the afternoon I was able to make some Marrow and Blackberry chutney with blackberries harvest in the garden which meant that on Wednesday after I finished work I spent an hour or so out collecting more; it's not often that our dry country allows these to grow. I had a rather early night that night after these exertions as I was up early the next morning...

The first cuppa of the day; much needed as you can see

Looking slightly more human at 4.30am with my second brew

A magnificent sunrise as we sped through Bulgaria

Made it to Ardacon 2017!

The dinner group sat at our table

My outstanding steak; it was amazing

... and what an early morning it was. The alarm went off at 4am and I had time for two cups of tea before we had to get in the car to go to catch the 5am bus. The puppies came down with us to say goodbye and we weren't waiting long before I was settled and travelling. The sunrise on the way up to Sofia was stunning and I managed to get some pictures with my good camera (about the only use it got the entire time). As usual the journey was easy, I arrived in plenty of time and had a really pleasant flight over to Manchester. The head steward on the flight was a really nice guy and I was lucky enough to fly back with him after the weekend which was awesome. I got to the hotel (after struggling initially to find the entrance) and went up to my room which was a good size. After a short attempt at a doze, largely unsuccessful, and a quick shopping trip to get shower gel and things like that, I headed to the bar and met up with some old colleagues for a beer. I also joined up with some of my fellow gamers for the weekend and was welcomed with a HUGE hug by James, who is organising the whole thing. It was so awesome to be made to feel so welcome straight away by everyone. Dinner was an amazingly good steak at the restaurant below the hotel and we had a group of 12 who went together. It was a fitting way to start a superb weekend.

A classic Manchester start to the day

Another classic Manchester start to the day

Looking across the room - how cool is that!

Steve setting up one of his tables; this is Goblin Town

The Prancing Pony; I've admired this in videos for months

A model of "The Barrels out of Bond" scene

Rivendell, a stunning piece with so much detail

With James; the organiser of Ardacon

I woke to overcast skies and drizzle, typical of Manchester and making me happy I'd packed up my waterproof. One of the benefits that James had managed to organise for us was a free upgrade to include breakfast included in the room price and I took advantage of this every day; I'd need the fuel. I'd registered the night before so had my pass and swag bag however I was still first in line for when the room opened. (This will be of no surprise to anyone who knows me.) Walking into that room was amazing; it was full of gaming tables and they all looked amazing. Steve (from Top Table Wargaming), who was to be my doubles partner, is someone whose videos I have watched on YouTube for the past year and it was wicked to meet him and see his amazing creations in the flesh. Another very talented pair of individuals I was excited to meet was Middle Earth Models who had three of their amazing display pieces set out; this was inspirational stuff. I was also lucky enough to grab a selfie with James, who was obviously massively busy but still had time for a brief chat, before the first game kicked off.

About to start the first game of the weekend

Our doubles army, set out on my tray

Me with my doubles partner, Cool Steve

Scott and Harry, who beat us in the first game

The Two Robs - quality opponents

Final game, Ben and Rachel (who had disappeared somewhere)

A very quick dinner during the final game

The first game was a one off ice breaker called Chaos in Arda. For this four players get around a table and attempt to achieve objectives that are set out in a pack of cards. You hold three cards at any one time and can discard one a turn by default and play as many as you want, to win the points defined on the cards if you have achieved the conditions. It was a huge laugh and I came third, though my force ended up being the hardest to kill and I lost almost no models to wounds. For lunch I had a Spar sandwich and then it was time to begin the doubles. Steve had brought a new model that he had never played with before, the Iron Hills Chariot, while I was playing Dol Amroth Knights and we learned a lot about our respective forces over the three games of the afternoon. The first one, against the father and son team of Scott and Harry, we were beaten quite comprehensively but it was a game which set the tone for the whole weekend - laughter. Much laughter. Second up we were against the two Robs with their Azog's Legion and we also lost this game however if anything we laughed even more. The final match, during which I ate a burger which was brought to the table while Steve did my moves for me, we managed to win though it was a close run thing until finally for the first (and only) time in the day the Chariot did its thing. I'd made it to the end of Day One without making a fool of myself, and without stopping laughing. The day was rounded off by a presentation by Adam and Jay, who are the main players at Games Workshop for Hobbit: SBG, about the future of the game. I went to bed not too late and slept really quite well.

A beautiful sunrise for Saturday morning

Up, dressed and raring to go

Setting the day off in the best possible way

It's another queue and I'm at the front

Me with my team mates

First game, and getting walloped!

Saturday morning I was up before my alarm and got out for a quick stroll before breakfast as the sun was shining (this is the ONLY picture I took with my main camera all weekend in Manchester!) and the restaurant was not open until 8am. Breakfast was again superb and then I was queuing for some special release miniatures which Steve wanted; sadly the delivery hadn't arrived so they weren't actually there but I was at the front of that queue as well. It was the first of two days of Singles competition on the Saturday and for this I was an honourary Norwegian, as Andreas and the other wonderful members of Team Norway welcomed me to their clan. My first game of the day was against Adam, the head of the Middle Earth team at Games Workshop, and we were picked to go on the Live Stream going out on YouTube. This was a brilliant game, though I was comprehensibly beaten. It was also interrupted by a fire alarm that had the entire hotel evacuated. About 12 people stayed to watch the Live Stream even though we were outside. Dedication, that is. I warn you that video is just about 2 hours long but I wanted to link it in anyway.

Crispin with his awesome Great Beast

About to get into it with Robbie - a cracking game from beginning to end

Robbie's Iron Hills advance through Bree

Back playing Ben; this would be fun!

Corsair of the match - Pedro

The competition was worked out so the best players would trend to the top tables and I would drift rapidly down to the bottom tables and this was definitely for the best. That being said I played against very good players in every game and Game Two was no different where I met Crispin with his Mordor army, including an awesome looking Great Beast of Gorgoroth. The laughter of the first day carried through into the second and this was a really fun game which was closer than the final scores suggested; a few priorities went against me during the "cavalry-off" and that allowed Crispin to win 7-0. It was definitely a well deserved victory but such fun as well. I went off from that further down the tables and met up with Robbie Williams who had Iron Hills Dwarves. This was the first time I played on the awesome Bree board with the aforementioned Prancing Pony as its centrepiece and it gave us some awesome cinematic moments of game play. It also allowed me to kill Dain Ironfoot* with strength two shooting* combined with Arbalestors* in hand to hand combat which prompted me to jump around in circles cheering. Yes. Actually. The final game of the day, and by this point I was absolutely shattered, was against Ben (who I had met in the doubles with his partner Rachel) and we had what was probably the most fun game of the entire tournament. It was another close game which suddenly swung in my favour in the last two turns handing me my first ever victory in tournament play SBG. One of my models, named Pedro (I had named every model, and painted this name on their base, to improve the fun aspect) was my man of the match as he held out for many turns against massively overwhelming odds. Suffice to say it was a wonderful game and Ben was a wonderful opponent.

* this is VERY unlikely (I rolled a 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5 to achieve this), please don't worry about the details - that is for my geeky friends :D

I'm far tireder than I look

The funny and informative SBG presentation

Cheers with another of the international community

The excellent games were not the only cool thing about Saturday as my mate Matt and his Mrs came into town to see me, watch me play, and drool over the competition; he had wanted to be there as a player but other commitments prevented it. It was a lovely thing to see them and share a little of my excitement with them and hopefully next year he can make it to the full event as a player and not just a spectator. Anyway by the end of the final game I was a sweaty mess so I went up to the room to have a shower and change and this is where I proved to myself just how tired I was; I stood in the shower with my shower gel opening and closing it and getting quite annoyed that nothing was coming out, for a good minute or so, before realising that I had been moving the hook and not opening the bottle. Yeah. That. After the shower I went downstairs and watched a presentation by a couple of the guys who do a fanzine called SBG. This was really interesting to watch but I was too tired after to stay for the quiz. I had a quick Laphroaig with Devin from the states, went upstairs and went to bed. I was feeling a little hungry but obviously not that hungry as when I woke up the next morning the biscuits I had grabbed were still lying on the bed next to me.

Getting ready to kick Sunday off against David

Tim - he snotted my hand, he did!

Tim's amazing army - it's wonderful to play against such excellent models

And so it was Sunday and the last day of competition. Once more I opened the day with a substantial fried breakfast and then made my way to the competition hall to see if my opponent would arrive; I knew that a fair number of people had been drinking until late and there were a couple who didn't make it on time. Fortunately for me David turned up and he turned out to be a brilliant opponent who was very happy to help me out by advising on some of the more complicated rules and telling me when to make use of them, even though this made it less likely that he would win. This is the kind of community that it is good to be a part of. Of course he still beat me but it was a very fun game (are you seeing the pattern yet?) with some hilarious moments including my Corsairs outshooting his Elves and then two of his Elves dying trying to climb a cliff. Also my friend John had come over in time to watch all the games I was playing and that was great fun to share with him. so we got to the final game and this was one which rivalled my enjoyment playing Ben the day before. This game was against Tim who had Goblin Town and the Three Trolls (from The Hobbit) and it ended up being a nil-nil draw which doesn't really communicate the fun that we had. I killed all three of the Trolls and then in the last turn we had a "hero off" where if one of us had caused any wounds on the other player's model they would have won the game. It was fitting that it ended how it did, with the Golden King having been flung down and alley way but saving his wound with a good roll of the dice.

Having a beer with friends watching the game

The final game of the weekend

Wow. What a six games and I was pretty tired by this point and pleased that we wouldn't have any more to play, though the final championship game was yet to be played. They were displaying the game live on the Big Screen so I sat and watched it and recovered from my exhaustion with a few people I'd met over the weekend and then it was time for the presentations and raffle draw. I'd even entered my army in the painting competition but unfortunately didn't win. No matter, I ended up 108th out of 118 players which, with one win, one draw and four losses, was a lot higher than I expected. After the presentation I helped out packing up all of the scenery from the tables, most of which had been provided by Games Workshop (they have really supported this this year) and then it was time to hit the bar. A very enjoyable time was had by all (apart from the moment when I realised I couldn't find my wallet and after running around the hotel I found it on a table in the main room) which was topped off at the end by watching Jay and Damian playing a game on the original Dul Guldor Dungeon Maze board that I have built and A and I have played on.

Having breakfast for the final time at the hotel

Everyone proud of their shirts

James and Stig and LOTS of scenery

It's a (slightly tall) Gimli!

A crowd of people having a final beer

Sat on the plane still sporting my t shirt

Fluffy clouds as we fly over Europe

I've been puppied!

We're getting towards the close of this update and I'm getting quite tired (having worked all day today before starting this). Monday morning dawned with clouds gathering and another excellent breakfast, shared with Dan and Evan, then a lovely relaxing morning drinking tea and waiting for James and Steve to arrive so we could help with the final teardown of the hall. They arrived and had a brew with us then we set to and the five or so of us who were there carried all the boards down in the service lift and helped pack them into the hire van. Then, hugs all around as James left with Evan while I headed back and had a beer with the final remaining people while I waited for John to arrive. It was late by then for lunch so we headed to a bar across the road to have a pint and some food and then I went to my hotel near Manchester Airport that I had booked that morning - booking that hotel was an excellent idea even if the food was terrible; when the alarm went off the next morning at 4am I had at least slept. My flight back was really easy, helped by the same Head Steward being there who was a laugh, however I was delayed badly at customs in Sofia by both me standing in the wrong place on the bus and then people with kids pushing in at the front of the queue. This meant that, despite my taxi driving actually leaving rubber on the road as he squealed and sped through Sofia, I missed my bus by one minute and had to wait for the next one. No matter, I got home and was greeted by A and the puppies with much enthusiasm. It was good to be home.

So there you have it; a long update and not really one about The Old School but I wanted to write it down and share it as it was a super experience. Thanks to everyone I met over the weekend who made me feel welcome and enabled me to have such a fun time. It was real. I hope I can repeat the experience, with A next time.