[Warmachine] SmogCon 2017

Last weekend, in what is rapidly becoming an annual tradition for me, I travelled to SmogCon. This was my third year in a row attending what is the UK's biggest Warmachine convention, and the only proper USA-style convention in the country (to my knowledge). Fortunately for me, this year the organisers had moved it to Birmingham, so I was able to save both money and time by making the short train ride to Birmingham International instead of driving to London, and by only staying for two nights instead of three.

I really enjoyed both of my previous visits to SmogCon, and this year was even better in some ways. The venue, though perhaps less fancy, was in my opinion much better. There were more tables, and all of the miniature gaming space was in a single ballroom, with the boardgames area in a room just off to the side, so everything was easily accessible. Food service was much improved too apparently, though as usual I took my own. In fact the whole event seemed to be bigger and better than ever, with perhaps the exception of the shop, which really seemed limited this time around.

The end of my first game of the weekend. Morghoul got put on the naughty step by the Iron Mother (Credit: David Brown)

Shop issues aside, I had a great time. I played 14 games of Warmachine and won 8, meeting my target of >50% win rate. I played in a tournament, this year picking Who's the Boss, which was a silly amount of fun. I played a board game, I attended a seminar and a couple of other special events, I watched the Keynote address, and I stayed up way to late playing games and chatting shop. 

I took some photos of my games and of general goings on, all of which can be found in  my Flickr album.

Sadly, Smogcon's run has ended. But, and this is a big one, Privateer Press are taking over the convention to make it Lock & Load Europe. So roll on 2018, and our new convention overlords.

My SmogCon 2017 loot pile. A full set of scenario zones, some scenery, pins, 3 convention exclusives models,

a Circle Orboros Warlock, the latest No Quarter Issue, and lots of dice. Happy times. (Credit: David Brown)