Con booklet
The 2010 version is finally available for download.
It is in duplex PDF booklet format. This means you will need Adobe
Acrobat Reader to view it, then a duplex printer to print
it (or you could just print both sides manually). It now
incorporates the maps, though you might need a magnifying
glass.
Next year's dates
The con moves next year to the Hallmark Hotel in Derby.
Dates are: 11 - 13 November, 2011.
Peter Hawkins
We were very sorry to hear of the death of MidCon
regular Peter Hawkins. He was aged just 54.
Dip dip dip-di-dip
We had an e-mail from the gang at the UK face to face
Diplomacy Tour of Britain tournament thingy (more details on
their web
site) pointing out that one of our photos had a caption
that suggested that Diplomacy is not played at MidCon
any more, whereas this is not the case.
It was played last year - quite openly, by people not
ashamed to be seen doing so :) - and will be played again this
year. There will be two (maybe three) rounds of Diplomacy that will take place over
two days. The scoring system will be the same as the one
used at ManorCon,
which I understand is some other Midlands based board games
convention ...
Mind you, someone
seems to be under the apprehension that ManorCon is actually a
"summer weekend of filkish fun, music and companionship in wonderful surroundings".
I mean, just because it is a convention and is held in a
manor, is that any reason to call it ManorCon? What next?
Someone setting up a con in Torbay and calling it BayCon?
Games stall
The Games Cellar
(Markus and co) will be running the games stall as per usual at MidCon
this year.
There will also be the usual Bring & Buy on the
Saturday.
Norman invasion on the quiz
Sadly our normal quizmaster, the ebullient Dan Lester, will
not be able to attend MidCon this year so David Norman, who is
normally Dan's sidekick, lining up the sound files on his
laptop, will move out of the shadows and into the spotlight to
run the quiz this year. Start time is 10:00pm prompt
on the Saturday, in the TV lounge.
Prickly relations with Thistle
We are back at the Thistle Birmingham City for 2010, though
with the convention still on a growth curve we have decided to
move somewhere bigger next year. Repeat, next year.
The hotel industry is having a bad time of it but according
to the hotel Birmingham is a hotbed of activity in the middle
of November thanks to the German Christmas fair in the city
and the recent revamp of the city centre, and so we are having
difficulty persuading them to hold the reserved rooms for as
long as we would like. This year, more than ever, it might be
wise to book your room early.
Local Derby
As alluded to above, next year the con will be moving to
Derby, and the Hallmark
Hotel. We are quite pleased with the choice but the proof
of the pudding and all that. For now, we can promise that it
will offer two major advantages in terms of convenience for
travellers: car drivers will be pleased to know the car park
is free, while rail travellers will welcome the fact that the
hotel is about 40 yards from Derby BR station.
Our illustrious chairman, Mr. Tullett (a resident of Derby)
is most concerned that people don't get ahead of themselves
and think that the con is moving to Derby this year. So, just
to reaffirm, we are holding con in Birmingham this year and
Derby next year. That means our "Board games in Brum"
T-shirts (some still available!) will soon be collector items
or obsolete; take your pick.
Earlier start on the Friday
The Wroxton Suite (and for all I know the Ariel too) will
be available from 11:00am on the Friday for the early birds
among you. They are charging us for a full day on the Friday
these days so we might as well grab the rooms earlier.
Price increases
It did cross my mind not to mention these but some of you
have been coming for so long that you might be stuck on
auto-pilot when writing out cheques to book the registration
fee, so it is probably best to mention them.
The convention fee has been increased by £2 for the full
week-end. It's the first increase in the convention fee in
some time and reflects the increased cost of hiring the
convention rooms, the subsidised coffee flasks provided in the
convention room and the cost of hiring a room for the Bring
& Buy.
The single room rates have also been bumped up while the
shared room rate is slightly lower this year.
Peter Berlin, Richard Beattie
& John Harrington leave a French restaurant in Birmingham,
the name of which escapes me ...
Other places to stay in Brum
All information correct as at 2:00pm, Saturday, 7 November,
2009.
Arc
Apartments, The Arcadian Centre, Hurst St, Birmingham
B5 4TD. About 1.2 miles away from the hotel. £22 for two
nights (i.e. £11 a night per person), with car parking space.
Birmingham
Central Backpackers, 58 Milk Street
Digbeth B5 5NH. Mixed dorm. From £16 a night.
Hatters,
92-95 Livery Street, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, West
Midlands, B3 1RJ. About half a mile away. Double bed, private,
en suite for £32.50 per night. Mixed dorm en suite £19.50 a
night (6 bed dorm) or £16.50 a night (12 bed dorm).
City
Quarters at Burne Jones House, 11 - 12 Bennetts Hill,
Birmingham, B2 5RS.
Campanile
Hotel, Chester Street,Aston , Birmingham, B6 4BE.
About 1.5 miles away. I am not going to quote a price because
they have a special 'book 5 days in advance' offer so it will
probably be gone by the time you read this.
Those are just some ideas. You will probably be better off
trawling the web yourself, in which case the following sites
may prove useful:
Laterooms.com
Bookings.com
Superbreak
Bring & Buy
We'll be doing the Bring & Buy again.
Games that will be on offer
If you want to give punters advance notice of the games you
will be bringing along to sell, contact John via http://fbgames.co.uk
or, if you can't be bothered to visit that web site you can
probably work out his address by rearranging the following
elements into the right order:
- @
- john
- fbgames.co.uk
Clue: Put them in the following order: 213, with no spaces
in between!
I know this photo looks like
it has a big crease going north to south just right of the
centre of the picture, but that is, in fact, a piece of
string, atop of which is a helium filled balloon. The balloon
is always (well, almost always) with a committee member to
make it easy to find them.
If only you did T-shirts
Hard though it is to believe, we still have some MidCon T-shirts
so
they will be on sale again.
These are high quality jobbies, because we know you like to
make your clothes last for decades ... The cost has been
reduced to £10
each. The shirts will be available in navy blue, cardinal red,
olive and charcoal in sizes ranging from Small to XL. 
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2010 dates confirmed