I’m behind in my blog posts considering Con of the North happened close to a month ago. Con of the North is located in the Northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities. It had been on my radar for years, but I couldn’t afford the gas to drive home when I was in college. This year, I invited a friend to attend with me, so I didn’t have to go alone.

Con of the North was extremely well organized. When I registered for Con of the North, I could sign up for games, role-playing sessions, and other gaming events. When I signed up for an event, it showed my gaming schedule on the website, so I could see what blocks of time I had left. If there was a full event, you could be added to their waiting list in case someone had to drop out last minute.

On Friday, I drove to the hotel to pick up my badge. Along with a badge, I got a Con of the North die, all of my tickets to the events I pre-signed up for, and a packet for the convention including a map of the hotel. The first event I signed up for was to learn how to play the Batman Miniatures game published by Knight Models. Miniatures is a type of tabletop game that has fascinated me, but I’m terrible at it. I find it challenging to predict what an opponent will do next and then try and place my miniatures in a compromising position to the opponent’s objective. I did lose to my opponent, but the game was easier to learn than I thought.

On Saturday, me and a friend had signed up to play several games of Magic: The Gathering EDH. These games were low stakes which was good because I’m a pretty casual Magic player and most of my decks aren’t competitive.

On Sunday, me and my friend split up because she wanted to play a massive game of Settlers of Catan while I went to try RunePunk, a steampunk-themed adventure using the Savage Worlds game system. Imagine Steampunk mixed with references from children’s stories.. that’s how I would best describe this.

Con of the North is a convention I would attend next year if I’m free. The organization, the convenient location, and the welcoming community made this experience a positive one. It was a great way to spend a dull weekend in February.