Western Desert and PrairieCon XLIV Report!

Well a couple weeks ago I attended Prairiecon XLIV (44 for the Roman-numeral-impaired), the annual Brandon event we used to proudly call "Western Manitoba's Longest-Running Game Convention (tm)". I've been going to Prairiecon since Prairiecon III (!!) so I'm an old hand.

Since the pandemic Prairiecon has been growing and growing, and this year's event was the biggest ever, with over 300 badges issued. There's all kinds of boardgames as well as the original Prairiecon attraction - roleplaying games and the AD&D tournament - and a few tabletop miniatures games too.

There were vendors of course, selling everything from boardgames to 3D prints to crocheted stuffies to dice, comics, and everything else you typically see at nerd-culture events. All good stuff.

I always run at least one game at Prairiecon, and typically volunteer a shift or two at the desk (above), but this year with a new volunteer registration portal, I wasn't needed for that!

So I got to save my volunteer energy for auctioneering at the annual auction, and it is a pretty big job. The auction ran for over two hours (with a 10-minute break for me to have a drink) and we sold over $5,000 worth of games and gaming stuff, with part of the proceeds donated to a local charity.

This year Conscript Frederick and I both brought miniatures games to the convention, mine was a Bolt Action game set in the Western Desert. And although there was a full-on Warhammer 40K tournament at Prairiecon this year, it's never been a hotbed of miniatures gaming. I was happy to have two players for my game.

Mike C. (left) is a Prairiecon original whom I've known for 40 years. He said he hadn't played a miniatures game in a long while but he made a good fist of it playing the Germans. Olaf (right) had fun and did a creditable job playing the British defenders.

Here I am explaining the scenario. Basically it was "Surrounded!" from the 3rd Ed rulebook, but reinforcements were restricted to coming in on their own half of the table - we'd playtested the game previously and using all four table edges for both sides was just too much.

I think the Germans had 15 order dice to the Brits' 12. This made for a good game with lots of stuff on the table. I think the boys had a good time, which is the main thing!

Of course being Bolt Action the game turned into wheel to wheel armour on one corner of the table, but so it goes... and as I said earlier, Conscript Frederick took several good-looking games to Prairiecon (including the infamous Polish Post Office game!) and I hope he'll post an after-action report as well.

I love Prairiecon and wouldn't ever miss it if I can help it. Every year it's great to catch up with old gaming friends and put on a game or two. This year Founding Conscript Curt and Sylvain came out from Regina, and Sylvain put on a very cool Gundam game for us, using action figures! That was super fun. And of course there's always great food and beer after the evening is done. Good times.

Toodles and heya safari!