Post by Admin on Jun 27, 2013 10:14:23 GMT
CONCLAVE 2013 14th- 16th June, THOMOND PARK, LIMERICK
Conclave 2013, Limerick’s Annual Games and Hobby Convention proved to be a huge success this year. Hosted as part of the Gathering Ireland, Conclave attracted visitors from near and far with participants from all over Ireland North and South, Scotland, Wales, England, Scandinavia and Europe, as well as a smattering of Canadians, Aussies, New Zealanders, South Africans, and Polish. A lot of these were return visitors to Conclave and to Limerick, bringing together old friends and new in the spirit of The Gathering.
Over all attendance was over 350 people over the weekend, with over 200 people of all ages participating in tournaments, and over 150 members of the public ventured out over the weekend to see what all the hype was about. Their curiosity was rewarded with free demonstration games being run to show how it is done, modelling displays, expert instruction, question and answer sessions, not to mention face painting and the glory of a tour of Thomond Park for those who were interested. Sunday, was Father's day, and a number of first time fathers spent the day gaming. Next year, we're going to suggest they bring their children!
A unique atmosphere was created in Thomond Park, where gamers and family and friends gathered to fight it out for honour, glory, titles and prizes. A special mention for the staff in Thomond Park, whose first exposure to the event was last year, were all delighted to be drafted in this year, and hope to be rostered on for next year. They showed a willingness to facilitate and engage in a very friendly manner to all the community, gamers and visitors alike. Numerous comments were made on the buzz, the fun of the day, the atmosphere and the legendary venue. One trader found that he had finally won over his father-in-law, who had previously wondered at the dubious nature of his occupation, by texting a photo, which the father-in-law immediately recognised as being taken from a corporate box in Thomond Park. If his job gets him into there thought the father-in-law, it must be okay.
European Battletech Champion, Dave LeGear, if you didn't know him personally, could be recognised by the huge smile on his face, brought on by the thought of travelling to the International Championship in Indianapolis later this year. John Sommers (Killarney), the organiser of this event, deserves special mention. As Martin Sweeney (Scotland) of the Catalyst Demo team said “This is the best organised and run Battletech event I’ve attended in years, on par with GenCon.” There was a large international attendance for this event and it included five former European champions and two former world champions.
Though the Wolfe brothers entered the prestigious Wolf Honour Name tournament, the name was finally won by Mark Wallace (Scotland). Mantic games ran their Irish Nationals and Paul Shorten (Cork) became the Irish Champion, and Mantics First International Champion. Special thanks goes to John Kearney (Limerick), who is now an official Pathfinder for Mantic games and impressed all over the weekend with his professionalism, wit, and organisation.
Mungo Harris (Dublin) won The Yu-Gi-Oh YCS Challenge, which was very successfully organised and run by the Gathering’s Kieran Digpal attracting 28 players. Mungo will fly to London later this year to participate in the Championship series.
Other winners were Cormac Walshe (Limerick) LOTR Battles, Dan Ahern (Cork) Warhammer 40k, Jamie McKeown (Limerick) Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Arran Leslie (Limerick Kiwi) Historical DBMM, and Paddy Lawlor (Kildare) won the Magic Irish Nationals Format. This format, which many in the Country were sorry to see go last year, was resurrected by Dave Tuite fresh with the glow of achieving his level 1 as an official DCI Magic Judge. Kudos to Dave for having the cahones to attempt this mammoth task, which despite the therapy bills and new Diet plan to follow, proved to be a great success attracting players from all over the country, 26 in fact. A big thank you to Mark McGovern (Dublin) lvl2, who came, at his own expense, to give Dave a hug every couple of hours, and to give encouraging words like “Use the force Dave.” After an epic two days of over twenty hours of Magic, the top eight, and Dave are now considering endurance dancing in their spare time! Well, it’s better than line dancing, I suppose.
The event was supported by the participation of a number of gaming businesses and clubs, sub City Games Galway, Wee Gamers Belfast, Mantic Games UK, Catalyst design studios, Iron wind productions USA, Fire and sword Poland and the IPMS Ireland. They all had an active presence at the convention and ran several events. The Wee Gamers in particular made a huge impression over the weekend, with Wee Kyle proving that man can stop time just to fit in a few more Demo Games. Wee Andy and Wee Ivor were stalwarts throughout the weekend and Weeeee cant wait to see these guys again. Keep an eye out for them at any con your at and you’re sure to have a great time.
There was also a lot of participation in the free demonstration and role-playing games. Special thanks goes to John Williams and his wife from Cork and to Noel Tobin and his wife Mary Martin who wrote and ran all the RPGs over the weekend. Playing any RPG in a corporate box in Thomond Park is going to be cool regardless of the game, playing a well written RPG with a great GM in a corporate box in Thomond park....now thats priceless!
Participation games were run by several of the companies, as well as local Gaming Groups such as the Gathering Gaming store, the Knaves (Board gaming club), whose very own Victor Gannon provided a great day for parents and kids alike in many varied and fun games ran over the weekend. The Gathering Historical games society’s Simon Kennedy ran perhaps the most successful Demonstration game of the weekend, Bolt action. This attracted huge attention from gamers and members of the public. Special mention goes to Seamus, who took over the running of the game on Sunday, despite a long night involving five Scotsmen and a very late hotel bar. Despite D-Day part 2 taking place in his head, Seamus kept a cheery disposition/grimace and made everybody’s day a great experience.
Arran and Kevin ran Flames of War. Grzegorz deserves a special mention for a very successful demonstration of By Fire and Sword, a Polish historical war game and despite the slight language barrier attracted a lot of interest and positive remarks on this new game and the style in which it was shown.
DBMM attracted four players, and a big thank you goes out to Mark Stanton for making the terrain boards for this event. They didn’t go to waste as, fresh from his Celtic League Championship win, George Dicks (Scotland) ran a very successful demonstration of Field of Glory.
The Limerick Modeller’s club held its annual modelling competion with the following prize winners.
Best in show: Alan Brisbane
Best 1:48+ Alan Brisbane
Best 1:48 jets. Alan Brisbane
Best 1:72 aircraft: Eoin Ryan
Best nautical: Danny Phelan
Best sci-fi model Kevin Stronach
Best fantasy model Jamie McKeoin
The biggest thank you goes to the following people without whom over the years Conclave would not have been possible, especially 2013.
Conclave-ettes on the front desk, for those lovely smiles and swift justice.
Helen Berney, Maedhbh Hennesy, Eva Jackson, “We all love yey Girls”
Garry Healy, Will Reidy, Dave Russell, otherwise known as Cerberus.
Chris McLaren, Logistics and Transport
Jason Cooke, Booklets, posters, and conclave Concepts.
Kevin Stronach, Aaron Leslie, Celecrin Grzegorz Kozlowski, Simon Kennedy - Historical games and demos.
Martin Sweeney, Battletech and Gaming Logistical support.
John Sommers, Battletech European Championship
Kevin Rein Warhammer Fantasy battle.
Mark Keevney Warhammer 40k,
Tom Cole LOTR/The Hobbit
Kieran Digpal YU-GI-OH
Dave Tuite, Magic
Seamus Hennessey for his Warlord Titan and all the members of the Gathering Gaming Club who were all there throughout the year to help with terrain building and model prep for the con as well as being on hand for loading, unloading, setting up and dismantling the event and generally doing all those difficult behind the scenes jobs that make these events successful.
Thanks as well to all those above who did not restrict themselves to just those events mentioned but who all enthusiastically helped out in many events in any way they could.
A big thank you to the Glasgow Battletech players, who at the end of the day enthusiastically helped clean the hall with us, proving that either Glasgow is now in the running for the World Tidy Town’s Award, or that Nancy Blake’s does a great pint of Guinness and they were in a hurry to get there.
Garry Jackson, Convention Director, said "The success of this year’s con is due both to the enthusiasm of the gamers and to the great support shown by the local business community. We are indebted to Nancy Blakes for hosting our post con BBQ, which impressed all the guests to the city, as Nancy Blake’s always does. The Bailey Bar hosted our meet and greet as well as our GPT Warsaw on Friday, providing a very welcoming atmosphere and great food to those first visiting the city and the con. The Boutique Hotel Denmark Street, the George Hotel, O’Connell Street, were more than accommodating in providing special rates for those attending the con. JJ Kenneally’s Jewellers always produce great trophies for us. Kenart Corp (Limerick) whose Ken Coleman provided two fantastic pieces of art as prizes for both Warhammer 40K and Fantasy battle, to check out these great pieces and more check out Kenartcorp.com. As with all our Conclaves, not everyone went home with a prize but everyone went home with a great story ".
So, if you have a Conclave tale of woe or victory, we would be delighted for you to post it up on the site for us to share, and add to, if you need corroborating witnesses.
Conclave 2013, Limerick’s Annual Games and Hobby Convention proved to be a huge success this year. Hosted as part of the Gathering Ireland, Conclave attracted visitors from near and far with participants from all over Ireland North and South, Scotland, Wales, England, Scandinavia and Europe, as well as a smattering of Canadians, Aussies, New Zealanders, South Africans, and Polish. A lot of these were return visitors to Conclave and to Limerick, bringing together old friends and new in the spirit of The Gathering.
Over all attendance was over 350 people over the weekend, with over 200 people of all ages participating in tournaments, and over 150 members of the public ventured out over the weekend to see what all the hype was about. Their curiosity was rewarded with free demonstration games being run to show how it is done, modelling displays, expert instruction, question and answer sessions, not to mention face painting and the glory of a tour of Thomond Park for those who were interested. Sunday, was Father's day, and a number of first time fathers spent the day gaming. Next year, we're going to suggest they bring their children!
A unique atmosphere was created in Thomond Park, where gamers and family and friends gathered to fight it out for honour, glory, titles and prizes. A special mention for the staff in Thomond Park, whose first exposure to the event was last year, were all delighted to be drafted in this year, and hope to be rostered on for next year. They showed a willingness to facilitate and engage in a very friendly manner to all the community, gamers and visitors alike. Numerous comments were made on the buzz, the fun of the day, the atmosphere and the legendary venue. One trader found that he had finally won over his father-in-law, who had previously wondered at the dubious nature of his occupation, by texting a photo, which the father-in-law immediately recognised as being taken from a corporate box in Thomond Park. If his job gets him into there thought the father-in-law, it must be okay.
European Battletech Champion, Dave LeGear, if you didn't know him personally, could be recognised by the huge smile on his face, brought on by the thought of travelling to the International Championship in Indianapolis later this year. John Sommers (Killarney), the organiser of this event, deserves special mention. As Martin Sweeney (Scotland) of the Catalyst Demo team said “This is the best organised and run Battletech event I’ve attended in years, on par with GenCon.” There was a large international attendance for this event and it included five former European champions and two former world champions.
Though the Wolfe brothers entered the prestigious Wolf Honour Name tournament, the name was finally won by Mark Wallace (Scotland). Mantic games ran their Irish Nationals and Paul Shorten (Cork) became the Irish Champion, and Mantics First International Champion. Special thanks goes to John Kearney (Limerick), who is now an official Pathfinder for Mantic games and impressed all over the weekend with his professionalism, wit, and organisation.
Mungo Harris (Dublin) won The Yu-Gi-Oh YCS Challenge, which was very successfully organised and run by the Gathering’s Kieran Digpal attracting 28 players. Mungo will fly to London later this year to participate in the Championship series.
Other winners were Cormac Walshe (Limerick) LOTR Battles, Dan Ahern (Cork) Warhammer 40k, Jamie McKeown (Limerick) Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Arran Leslie (Limerick Kiwi) Historical DBMM, and Paddy Lawlor (Kildare) won the Magic Irish Nationals Format. This format, which many in the Country were sorry to see go last year, was resurrected by Dave Tuite fresh with the glow of achieving his level 1 as an official DCI Magic Judge. Kudos to Dave for having the cahones to attempt this mammoth task, which despite the therapy bills and new Diet plan to follow, proved to be a great success attracting players from all over the country, 26 in fact. A big thank you to Mark McGovern (Dublin) lvl2, who came, at his own expense, to give Dave a hug every couple of hours, and to give encouraging words like “Use the force Dave.” After an epic two days of over twenty hours of Magic, the top eight, and Dave are now considering endurance dancing in their spare time! Well, it’s better than line dancing, I suppose.
The event was supported by the participation of a number of gaming businesses and clubs, sub City Games Galway, Wee Gamers Belfast, Mantic Games UK, Catalyst design studios, Iron wind productions USA, Fire and sword Poland and the IPMS Ireland. They all had an active presence at the convention and ran several events. The Wee Gamers in particular made a huge impression over the weekend, with Wee Kyle proving that man can stop time just to fit in a few more Demo Games. Wee Andy and Wee Ivor were stalwarts throughout the weekend and Weeeee cant wait to see these guys again. Keep an eye out for them at any con your at and you’re sure to have a great time.
There was also a lot of participation in the free demonstration and role-playing games. Special thanks goes to John Williams and his wife from Cork and to Noel Tobin and his wife Mary Martin who wrote and ran all the RPGs over the weekend. Playing any RPG in a corporate box in Thomond Park is going to be cool regardless of the game, playing a well written RPG with a great GM in a corporate box in Thomond park....now thats priceless!
Participation games were run by several of the companies, as well as local Gaming Groups such as the Gathering Gaming store, the Knaves (Board gaming club), whose very own Victor Gannon provided a great day for parents and kids alike in many varied and fun games ran over the weekend. The Gathering Historical games society’s Simon Kennedy ran perhaps the most successful Demonstration game of the weekend, Bolt action. This attracted huge attention from gamers and members of the public. Special mention goes to Seamus, who took over the running of the game on Sunday, despite a long night involving five Scotsmen and a very late hotel bar. Despite D-Day part 2 taking place in his head, Seamus kept a cheery disposition/grimace and made everybody’s day a great experience.
Arran and Kevin ran Flames of War. Grzegorz deserves a special mention for a very successful demonstration of By Fire and Sword, a Polish historical war game and despite the slight language barrier attracted a lot of interest and positive remarks on this new game and the style in which it was shown.
DBMM attracted four players, and a big thank you goes out to Mark Stanton for making the terrain boards for this event. They didn’t go to waste as, fresh from his Celtic League Championship win, George Dicks (Scotland) ran a very successful demonstration of Field of Glory.
The Limerick Modeller’s club held its annual modelling competion with the following prize winners.
Best in show: Alan Brisbane
Best 1:48+ Alan Brisbane
Best 1:48 jets. Alan Brisbane
Best 1:72 aircraft: Eoin Ryan
Best nautical: Danny Phelan
Best sci-fi model Kevin Stronach
Best fantasy model Jamie McKeoin
The biggest thank you goes to the following people without whom over the years Conclave would not have been possible, especially 2013.
Conclave-ettes on the front desk, for those lovely smiles and swift justice.
Helen Berney, Maedhbh Hennesy, Eva Jackson, “We all love yey Girls”
Garry Healy, Will Reidy, Dave Russell, otherwise known as Cerberus.
Chris McLaren, Logistics and Transport
Jason Cooke, Booklets, posters, and conclave Concepts.
Kevin Stronach, Aaron Leslie, Celecrin Grzegorz Kozlowski, Simon Kennedy - Historical games and demos.
Martin Sweeney, Battletech and Gaming Logistical support.
John Sommers, Battletech European Championship
Kevin Rein Warhammer Fantasy battle.
Mark Keevney Warhammer 40k,
Tom Cole LOTR/The Hobbit
Kieran Digpal YU-GI-OH
Dave Tuite, Magic
Seamus Hennessey for his Warlord Titan and all the members of the Gathering Gaming Club who were all there throughout the year to help with terrain building and model prep for the con as well as being on hand for loading, unloading, setting up and dismantling the event and generally doing all those difficult behind the scenes jobs that make these events successful.
Thanks as well to all those above who did not restrict themselves to just those events mentioned but who all enthusiastically helped out in many events in any way they could.
A big thank you to the Glasgow Battletech players, who at the end of the day enthusiastically helped clean the hall with us, proving that either Glasgow is now in the running for the World Tidy Town’s Award, or that Nancy Blake’s does a great pint of Guinness and they were in a hurry to get there.
Garry Jackson, Convention Director, said "The success of this year’s con is due both to the enthusiasm of the gamers and to the great support shown by the local business community. We are indebted to Nancy Blakes for hosting our post con BBQ, which impressed all the guests to the city, as Nancy Blake’s always does. The Bailey Bar hosted our meet and greet as well as our GPT Warsaw on Friday, providing a very welcoming atmosphere and great food to those first visiting the city and the con. The Boutique Hotel Denmark Street, the George Hotel, O’Connell Street, were more than accommodating in providing special rates for those attending the con. JJ Kenneally’s Jewellers always produce great trophies for us. Kenart Corp (Limerick) whose Ken Coleman provided two fantastic pieces of art as prizes for both Warhammer 40K and Fantasy battle, to check out these great pieces and more check out Kenartcorp.com. As with all our Conclaves, not everyone went home with a prize but everyone went home with a great story ".
So, if you have a Conclave tale of woe or victory, we would be delighted for you to post it up on the site for us to share, and add to, if you need corroborating witnesses.