Well I definitely decided to go big or go home on this one. Much like when I was 15 and my first major convention was freaking anime expo, now that I'm in my early 30s and getting more into Warhammer, my first event was LVO. Only the biggest Warhammer event to exist. No big deal.
Day 1 was mostly with the girls, I had to help the non players run messages because the event wanted 20 per day just to walk through the door - makes sense, conventions do that too, but for a tournament it felt funny for people who were just going to find their spouse since there’s no phone service. Eh, whatever.
The scheduled events were super cool and the setup with streaming tables and repair stations were awesome. Vendor hall was small but of course I still spent on paint (funny story, I had no idea that my girl Meredith ran turbo dork!!!!) and a fun shirt that calls me out for the annoying NPC that I am. Actually, the shirt guy was really cool. He had a bunch of blank t-shirts and a bunch of colors and sizes and a heat transfer machine. You could pick your design from his t-shirt wall but then pick your blank shirt as well. It was such a good idea for having all sorts of variety and not having to bring boxes and boxes of stock on the off chance it would sell. I know that heat transfer machine couldn't have been cheap but I bet it paid for itself by saving on shipping for just one con.
This night we also went as a group to the nomad library and had a really pretentious dinner but it was so good it was worth it. God, cons are my financial weakness I swear.
Day 2 was Rogue day!!
Before I changed, I FaceTimed with Noe and showed him everything in the game hall and exhibitor hall and we got some of the 40k exclusives for the store! It was interesting to me that they didn't have a per person maximum on the number of exclusives, but I didn't see anybody really take advantage of it. That was really nice to see. I'm sure that happens but not today, haha.
I had SUCH a great time running around as Rogue, even tho ya girl has too much hair and wigs are tight now. But don't I say that with every con and every wig? Maybe I'll learn eventually. Got tons of compliments on my cosplay, Even from those who weren't playing marvel crisis protocol.. which was honestly the only reason I was able to justify wearing Rogue at a tabletop convention, in case you were wondering. Anyway, honestly 40k/tabletop is the most respectful fun community, not a single person being untoward or creepy, just genuine compliments and a few photos. I didn't see anyone else in costume other than my friend Clif was the eggplant king…..? I’m not one to talk lol. There were a small handful of other people in costume, but I only saw their pictures after the fact which was a little disappointing. Which actually leads me to my next point…
I had the chance to talk with Kicker, the event director, about Frontline Gaming's desire to have a bigger cosplay presence at these shows! We’re in contact and I hope to work with them on building a costuming department for future events. We aren't talking specifics yet, but personally I'm thinking that the bay area event is looking promising . And of course I'm starting to build Alarielle from Sigmar….
Kicker gave me a great wet paint palette as a thanks for showing up and dressing for the occasion, which was very kind of him and that palette has honestly come in super useful as I start taking commission work.
I was actually featured on the FLG stream on twitch as well! Between games they came up and asked me to show off my cosplay for the camera. It was a little awkward because like it's not like rogue has specific poses she's known for other than being an absolute badass, but I made it work. I was also super flattered because they said something about speaking of celebrities, Leah is here! AWWW.
Found the clip, So I'm going to embed it here!
Day 3 was infinitely more casual. A lot of my friends placed fairly high, but I think only one person actually ended up playing on day three. I ended up getting most of my pictures and videos on this day just because I felt a little more comfortable, even though it wasn't anywhere near the crowds that it was the day before. I ended up tapping out a little on the early side, and then that night we went to meow wolf which was such an amazing experience, and now I have a new goal of visiting every single meow wolf location before the end of the year. That's a post in and of itself though, so we'll save that for when I have pictures from all across the country.
I'm really grateful that my first table top convention was such a good experience, but I went with people who really knew what they were doing and also had fun outside of just playing. I'm really excited for the years to come when I actually know how to play and bring my own army that I painted myself. Lofty goals, I know, but between Noe and I we can do it!
Here is a photo dump of some of the amazing stuff and super nice people I saw over the weekend.
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