Planet Irish Gaming

Gaelcon is proud to announce a performance of Josh Weldon's Emmy award winning Dr Horrible's Sing a Long Blog.

The performance will take place in the main all of the D4hotel's conference centre at 6:30 pm on Sunday the 25th of October and is affiliated with Can’t Stop the Serenity 2009.

The performance is free to all those attending Gaelcon but there will be a collection box and for those wishing to attend just to see the performance there are Horrible tickets which will cost 4 euro.

All funds raised by this will be going to charity, 75% to Equality Now and 25% to Gaelcon's award winning charity endeavours.


Looking forward to see you there, it will be shiny.

Gaelcon has always been about having fun and trying in include as many gamers as possible.
After several dialogues with those in the emerging fighter games community, we are happy to announce that the Street Fighter IV competition is being moved to the Sunday afternoon slot, with smash bros now taking the Saturday slot.
This means that those who are taking part in the SFIV comp at Lanparty.ie the day before now
have a weekend double header, will the same person win both competitions?
Will there be many grudge matches from the day before?
This throw down will happen in the Console lounge at Gaelcon on the Sunday and spectators are welcome.

The rules for the SFIV comp were also revised and now stand as

Street Fighter 4

A true successor to Street Fighter 2 has emerged at last!
Following some rather heated discussion the rules for our SF4 tournament are going to be:

Single elimination format.
Each match is the best of 3 sets.
Each set is the best of 3 rounds. Players may change character between sets.
All characters are allowed.
Players may use their own controllers.
Players may customize their key configuration before the match.
Pausing mid game results in a forfeit of the round by the player who pauses this, unless its agreed by both players to restart.
In the event of concerns about counter picking, double blind picking will be used.In the event of concerns about which side people are starting on a coin toss will be used to decide who gets which side.

Thanks to the mods of the fighting games forum on boards.ie for their help and to the organisers of Lanparty.ie for thier support.

Yes parties, for as we know all good things come in threes and for three nights there will be revels. Saturday and Sunday in Howl at the moon and then Monday post con drinks in Cassidy's.


Gaelcon celebrates its 21st birthday this year so, of course, we're ready to party!

For those of you who have had your gaming fix sated during the day at Gaelcon and don't want to continue rolling your dice on into the darkness with the late night games slot, we're planning a whole bunch of night time social fun for the convention!

The festivities begin from 8pm with the Gaelcon Pub Quiz on Saturday and the award-winning Charity Auction on Sunday - both taking place at the convention centre.

These will be followed on both nights by a mass exodus to the Gaelcon Club - Howl at the Moon on Lower Mount Street! In this luxurious venue, there are four floors of bars, including an underground bar (The Zimmer Room) and a heated roof terrace - it's looking to be a lot of fun.

The Monday evening slot begins with the closing ceremony at 7pm and continues with a more relaxed night in Cassidy's on Westmoreland Street.

Be sure to arrive before 11.30pm on Saturday night to avoid cover charge. No charge on Sunday. club winds down at 2.30am. Costumes are welcome. Bring ID!



Howl at the Moon is only an 11 minute walk from D4hotels in mostly a straight line ( or you can jump on a bus ) there and it is halfway from Gaelcon to where the nitelinks leave.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

What is the shortest stroll to Gaelcon in the D4Hotel conventions centre?
Why it has to be from a hotel room in the Ballsbridge Inn and for those who are looking at booking in for the weekend there is a 'Gaelcon price'.

For the Saturday night the it is 79euro per room and for the Sunday night the price is 59 euro per room. To make sure you get this price mention Gaelcon when making your booking.

If you do not wish to stay in the hotel attached to the conference centre ( which Gaelcon is taking over for the weekend)and are looking for other suggestions then there are listings on the Gaelcon website.

As we are only 6 weeks away from the doors opening for Gaelcon 2009, we are all making plans for that long weekend of gaming. Part of those plans is budgeting for the weekend and sure to start that process you need to know what the cost of the tickets are.

So how much for a weekend of glorious gaming at Gaelcon?

14 euro for a 1 day adult ticket and 28 euro for an adult weekend ticket for the 3 days.
7 euro for a 1 day child ticket and 14 euro for a child weekend ticket for the 3 days.

Child tickets are for those who are under the age of 17 and under and there are free Parental/Guardian Tickets for parents and guardians who are not participating in the gaming festivities.

For any further information check our website http://www.gaelcon.com/gaelcon or email info@gaelcon.com.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Don't we live in a marvellous age?
It was in years gone by that those of us who were lucky enough to be able to adventure to our local games emporiums could try and pick up a copy of the leaflet for that years gaelcon. Some times alas such quests would fail or we would find the last one and be loathe to take it with us wanting others to read about what wonders and attractions would wait us come October.

These day we can deliver it to you right, here right now, in pdf.
http://www.gaelcon.com/Files/gaelcon_A3_09.pdf

Yes I know it's not the same as one you have picked up in store, folded and put in your back pocket to be warmed to your body temp and take on that certain curve, but you can always print one up, put it with your gaming books for a while and then stick it in your back pocket for a few hours if you really feel the need to.

The summer is over and soon all the children will be back at school and we have the crisp Autumn days and evening to look forward to and of course Gaelcon.

Please make sure ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls and gamers of all ages
to mark it on your calendars that this year Gaelcon is on the 24th to the 26th of October and in it's new home in D4Hotels (directions may be found here). You are all invited and we are so looking forward to seeing you there.

BattleTech is back at Gaelcon! This year marks the game’s 25th anniversary – making it the longest consistently published science fiction game, and we’ve got a series of events planned to satisfy everyone’s need for mechanical carnage.
Once per month between May and October, in association with the Dublin Games Guild and Models Inc we will be running a game from the Jihad Turning Points: Luthien campaign pack. This story-based campaign’s battles are well-suited to both introduce new players to the BattleTech game and universe and to highlight to integrated and scalable nature of the current rule set to existing ones. This will cumulate in an epic battle at Gaelcon itself using the new Quickstrike rules designed to allow for quick battles while retaining the feel of the more detailed core game.

The second game takes place on Saturday June 20th, starting at 12PM in Models Inc, 65 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin 1.





Game 2:Bullet in the Blue Sky
Dateline: 18 July 3069
18 months have passed since the battle at the Imperial Palace. The battle for Luthien has devolved into a three-way brawl thanks to the arrival of Word Of Blake - the technology-worshipping zealots who have sown chaos, confusion and devastation across the Inner Sphere!
Luthien Armour Works - the largest 'Mech factory in the Draconis Combine lies in ruins, blasted from within by nuclear bombs set by parties unknown. The forces still loyal to the Coordinator now camp on the edge of the radiation-blasted facility, awaiting their chance to push back. The Black Dragons, wanting to press their advantage have decided to attack the loyalist positions en masse, but have made one critical mistake - their path has lead them right into a Word of Blake salvage team...
This game will be played on a set of maps created specifically for the scenario, representing the nuked ruins of Luthien Armour Works, and will use the new Radiological toxic environment rules to represent the sheer danger facing the combatants.

Gaelcon is putting on a stage version of Dr. Horrible's singalong blog.

We are holding open casting calls on Monday the 15th in the Mercantile bar on Dame Street at 7pm.
Please have a 30sec monologue ready as well as being able to sing 30secs of the song of your choice.

These should show off your ability so ranting the first part of brand new day, though impressive, isn't going to show us how well you can sing.
The songs will be the instrumental versions which can be found here http://moseslei.net/drhorrible.html if you want to practice with them.

This is open to everyone and anyone so feel free to distribute the details to anyone and everyone who you think would be interested.

The production is to be preformed October bank holiday weekend.

BattleTech is back at Gaelcon! This year marks the game’s 25th anniversary – making it the longest consistently published science fiction game, and we’ve got a series of events planned to satisfy everyone’s need for mechanical carnage.




Once per month between May and October, in association with the Dublin Games Guild and Models Inc we will be running a game from the Jihad Turning Points: Luthien campaign pack. This story-based campaign’s battles are well-suited to both introduce new players to the BattleTech game and universe and to highlight to integrated and scalable nature of the current ruleset to existing ones. This will cumulate in an epic battle at Gaelcon itself using the new Quickstrike rules designed to allow for quick battles while retaining the feel of the more detailed core game.





The first game takes place on Saturday May 16th, starting at 12PM in Models Inc, 65 Upper Dorset Street, Dublin 1.



Game 1: Traitor’s Kiss.

Dateline: 1st January 3068

The Draconis Combine has long stood on the values of Edo-period Japan. A ruling class of Samurai and nobility above the commoners, criminals and unproductives; with the elite MechWarriors of the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldery standing above them all. But Coordinator Theodore Kurita has been making progressive changes – allowing yakuza and women to fight in BattleMechs, allying with their age-old enemies against the Clans, and generally bettering the lot of the common man and woman. Standing against him is the Black Dragon Society – a shadowy cabal of conservative samurai who want to return to the good old days.



Taking advantage of the confusion following the breakup of the Second Star League and the fanatic of Word of Blake’s subsequent attacks on the Inner Sphere, the Black Dragons have decided to strike, daring to foment rebellion on the Black Pearl of Luthien – capital planet of the entire Draconis Combine. Rebel forces have captured the Voice of the Dragon compound, giving them control over the network that feeds the people news and propaganda, and now they move against the Imperial Palace itself. Standing in their way is a small number of the Coordinator’s Bodyguards and other loyal samurai.