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Otago Daily Times

SouthCon battles set to take hold

Battle lines will be drawn and armies will muster for next week's war-games. Table-top gaming tournament Southcon returns to the Edgar Centre during King's Birthday weekend for two days of strategy and skirmishes. The event, organised by the Otago Miniature Tacticians Society, will pit gamers against each other for glory. James McPherson has been playing since he was about 9 years old. His "gateway drug" to table-top gaming was Lord of the Rings . "In the early 2000s, the Lord of the Rings movies were coming out and they also released the Lord of the Rings version of the game." Since then he has also enjoyed playing other table-top miniature wargames. It was an enjoyable hobby because it offered many aspects, such as personalising model figures through painting. There was even the option to alter figures instead of using them as designed. "You can build them as they come straight out of the box, or you can do a bit of customisation to them too." The injection-moulded plastic pieces arrive in a sprue, or tray of connected parts, ready to be detached and built into models. "You have got to clip them out and glue it all together." Mr McPherson uses water-based acrylic paint, beginning with a primer coat and then airbrushing for depth. "Once I have got the base colour down, then I get out the actual brush itself and then I paint everything else around it." "I'll start doing highlights to kind of bring up more depth and detail on it." Even though the basic models of miniatures started out all the same, there were many chances for creative choices, such as paint colour. One example is a series of small goblins he painted green rather than the classic red. "They are very dynamic models." Alongside the creative work of building and painting, there is the social side of playing the game. "So it is a hobby with a lot of different layers, which means that you kind of get different types of enjoyment out of it," Mr McPherson said. Society president Kelly Gragg said Southcon drew about 80 to 100 players from around the country. During the event, about 50 gaming boards will showcase battlefields from miniature-wargames such as Warhammer Age of Sigmar , Warhammer The Old World and Lord of the Rings . Each 1m by 1.5m battlemat is set up with varied terrain features, and gamers then decide how to position their armies. Gamers do not know in advance how opponents will deploy, so configuring an army is partly strategy, partly guesswork. Most games are one-on-one and last about two to three hours. Each player had 2000 points to use to configure their army, which could include a range of characters worth different points. "You could have five big giant kind of things, or you could have hundreds of little guys. "So there is a lot of strategy and tactics in how you build your army, in terms of what elements you add to it." Players were provided a scenario and goal for the game, such as taking a hillside or breaking through enemy lines. The roll of the dice dictates whether gamers succeed, determining if a character is wounded or killed. Members of the public are welcome to drop in and watch games in progress, Mr Gragg said. "There is a huge kind of sportsmanship aspect to it as well, being able to win well, but also being able to lose well." Southcon 2025 Edgar Centre Saturday, May 31, 9am-5pm Sunday, June 1, 9am-3pm