When the first round of Hyperspace Trials were announced, the St. Louis X-Wing community was very disappointed to find that none of our local stores had gotten one. We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that there was going to be a second season. Then the dates for that second season were announced, and still nothing. The salt and the questions flowed. Three local stores are big enough to meet the 64 person minimum, and event organizers had said they put in for Hyperspace Trials. Did they just say that? Did they screw up the paperwork somehow? Did FFG just have zero love for St. Louis? We have a large enough local community to hold a decent-sized Hyperspace Trial even if no one from out of town came in for it, which, of course, they would have. So what the heck, FFG (or local stores)?

Then Warfaire Weekend was announced. And with Warfaire Weekend came an X-Wing Grand Championship; a nationals-level tournament was going to be held just down the road (not 15 minutes from my house). So we ceased to care (as much) about the lack of a Hyperspace Trial in the STL. Though, admittedly, we are still a bit salty. (Indy got one despite Gencon being there!) But I digress.

Needless to say, we are hugely excited that this event is coming our way, and we want participation to be as strong as possible.

Toward that end, we are happy to announce that Arch Alliance has now become an official sponsor of Warfaire Weekend, and we have teamed up with the owner of Mekanika Studio to provide some additional prize support for the event. We wanted to avoid Reddit posts like this one for St. Louis’ first major X-Wing event.

The additional prize support is going to be made available as preregistration swag.

If you can, please preregister for the event, as that helps the event organizers get prepared, and you’ll get some sweet swag for your trouble! The main event is going to have two separate “day one” flights, one on Friday and one on Saturday, and the top 16 players from each day will go on to a top 32 cut on Sunday.

Now, I wanted to take some time to walk through how to sign up for the event, as it’s just a touch different than what I personally have been used to.

Go to the event’s website, Warfaire Weekend. Select the Register tab in the menu. Click the checkout button and enter all your information. Before you hit “Pay Now” make sure you click either the Friday Games or the Saturday Games option under the Additional Items section. Once you do that, a couple of different drop down menus become available. Select the number of tickets you want, then pick the game. The X-Wing event is listed under 9:00 AM X-Wing Grand Championship.

After that, you just checkout as normal.

I got the opportunity to chat for a bit with two of the men who have been hard at work trying to make Warfaire Weekend, and St. Louis’ X-Wing Grand Championship, a huge success: Nick Huisman and Kris Johnson.

So, Nick, as I understand it, you are the TO for the tournament, is that correct?

Nick: Yes sir. I was not the original TO, but they backed out. I have taken over running it. Let me give you a bit of my history. I am nobody in the X-Wing community. I’ve been playing miniatures games since 2003 and attended my first tournament in 2006. I estimate I have attended well over 200 tournaments since then, with the largest being 192 people. I have been running events since 2012, and the largest event I have run is a 120 person 40K major grand tournament (head judge for it, did all the pairings etc, logistics was another guy). I have played X-Wing since 2015 and played in events ever since.

And Kris, what is your role in all of this?

I own a company called Mekanika Studio. We do custom trophies for events and accessories for tabletop gaming, graphic design, and dimensional graphics and manufacturing. I became a part of the Warmachine Weekend team 12+ years ago and built my company off the products I made, and eventually acquired the event and expanded it to other games. I brought Eric ‘Gonzo’ on board to run the event and we got FFG events through some awesome referrals from former employees of Privateer Press. And I also make tap handles for micro breweries in KC.

So, are you the one who is, or will be, working on designing additional swag?

Kris: Yes. Also, I design all the stuff for Broken Egg Games. So I can digitally print on acrylic and laser cut.

Nick, how did you come to be the TO after the previous TO dropped out?

Nick: I was asked to. I was already going to assist with judging the Warmachine event (the most prestigious in the US). When the X-Wing TO dropped out, the organizers wanted to fill the spot quickly with someone they could trust to run it well. They knew I played X-Wing so they asked me to do it.

What else will attendees be able to experience at Warfaire outside of X-Wing?

Nick: Other things besides X-Wing: Warfaire Weekend is a con that covers the whole range of miniatures games except GW (to my knowledge) so players can participate in other games. In addition, there is a range of painting and hobby classes taught by world class, award winning painters and a plethora of board games.

Can you tell us more about the venue?

Nick: The venue is the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet. The hotel is a beautiful building, up-to-date and features an outdoor artificial lake/pond. It is right off of a major highway allowing for easy access to it and surrounding areas. It is in the northwest corner of the St Louis area, so it is a long way away from the high traffic and busy areas, ensuring any driving is easy and pleasant. The hotel has a restaurant and bar in addition to typical hotel amenities, and all of the con events will occur on the bottom floor except for the the store and hobby classes. I have stayed there plenty of times and it’s a very high quality establishment. Right next door (literally just outside the south entrance) is an outdoor shopping area with plenty of restaurants. Those range from bars to pizza, hibachi, and Mexican food. Within a 5 minute drive is a further selection of restaurants and general stores.

Table space is always at a premium at events like these. Do you know anything about the table setup we can expect?

There is a large downstairs hall we have that is only X-Wing as far as I know.

Is there any particular aspect of Warfaire Weekend that you are especially excited for, or want people to know about?

Nick: Warfaire Weekend is a great con for meeting up with old friends or meeting completely new ones. Unlike Gencon, Adepticon, LVO, et cetera, pretty much everyone is in one location and never has to leave it. You don’t need to walk to the venue or catch a shuttle. That means everyone is there all the time. It’s not abnormal to see casual games or people hanging out at midnight.

Kris: Nick said it all well. Community was always why I was excited for the event. And by the caliber of guys like Mark Myers, I think the X-Wing community will be a plus. Sometimes, I felt like when I came back to Warmachine Weekend, it was like coming home.