Airecon 2026 – Day 1
When I headed to TTGM Live last month it felt like winter had come back round. For Airecon in Harrogate the heavens had opened. Heading down the A68 I felt like I was in a submarine for some of the trip as driving rain, flooding, and sheering winds conspired to keep me from my destination. Thankfully I and the car arrived in one piece and all was once more right with the world. With pint in hand and food in belly I breathed a sigh of relief. It has been a very busy start to my year, some of it self inflicted I’ll admit, and this is the first long holiday I’ve had in a while.
The Thursday of Airecon is sort of a half day every year. The halls open at 4pm and the opne gaming areas go on till 11pm. Airecon is a ‘play’ focused convention, the other type being a ‘purchase’ focused convention. Of course they can run the gauntlet in between these two end of the spectrum but Airecon sits firmly at the play end. Just what I wanted.
It is a curious thing that I sometimes travel to Airecon to play games with folk who live quite close to me. A regular gaming companion Simon met me at Cold Bath Brewery for a pint and some games before the con opened proper. I really recommend Cold Bath. Good beer and they have an asian street food inspired menu that is very tasty.
We kicked off with some Compile: Main 1, a fantastic lane battler that I never quite feel ready to review. Thematically you are rival AIs, appropriate for our times, battling to compile the protocols that make you tick. These are things like Death, Love, Peace, Corruption etc. The cards are plastic and feel great to handle with surreal art but clear card layout. In each lane you are trying to get to 10 points on your stack to get the compile action, and there are so many ways to get there and disrupt your opponent. I hope to explore it more over the course of the con and write about it and the sequel Main 2, that I picked up recently.
The traditional rainy Airecon queue greeted us as we headed to the convention centre. Folk bearing games to play, stacks to sell in the bring and buy, or just turning up empty handed to borrow games from the library, meet friends, and indulge in play. Airecon caters to all sorts of folk from those who maybe are only just starting to discover the wider hobby to the hardcore enthusiast. It is this that makes it sing as a convention, a welcoming space no matter who you are.
Simon and I parked ourselves near the Cold Bath pop up bar at the back of the first hall, an excellent piece of worker placement I think you’ll agree, and got to games. I’d popped up to my hotel, The Franklin, to check in and change some bits out of my bag so Compile Main 2 came out. This sequel feels a bit trickier as there are more cards that do off piste powers. I can’t quite put my finger on that feeling but will attempt to do so when I get around to reviewing it. Either set will bring you joy.
Richard Simpson, We’re Not Wizards, and his friend Paul Cuthbert turned up shortly after us and we eased ourselves into the rest of the day with my copy of Magical Athelete. I’m not one for ‘The Hotness’ most of the time but at £25 for a quick playing 6 player game with a strong reputation I couldn’t say no. I’ve played it a couple of times already and really enjoyed it. It feels like a game that has existed for a long time, with the new CMYK production really lending itself to that feeling of Nostalgia. This race included a moment when The Mouth, that eliminates other races when it lands on them, ate everyone. Good job Mouth.
Tim Clare, my friend and fellow host on “But, Why Vikings?”, had just arrived as the 4 of us headed out for a bit of dinner. Illam just around the corner from the centre comes highly recommended for a good curry. When we got back I settled into a teach of Ethnos with Tim, Simon, and Paul. It’s not a game I’ve played a lot yet so my teach isn’t quite as smooth as I would like. I really enjoy teaching games and always looking to refine my technique for each one. I’ve got Old King’s Crown with me, and that is going to be a bit of a challenge to show folk.
Ethnos is a pure area control game with you basically set collecting in order to put pagodas down in various areas of this world that looks straight out of Super Mario Galaxy. The cards represent clans, and each one has their own power giving you lots of paths to score points and manipulate the board. I really like Ethnos and want to play it more with some of the other clans I haven’t had the chance to use yet.
Simon had brought Moon Colony Bloodbath and we were joined by Paul Flannery of Knightmare Live for a game. You can read the full breakdown in my revieww but bascially you are building a lovely moon base with friendly robots and nothing goes wrong. Honest. Paul ran the central deck that brings out the actions and troubles and brought his acting style to the presentation. It was the best game I’ve played of this, and not just because I won. I really need to pick this one up. I like it a lot.
We rounded off the evening with a slightly wonky teach of Cursed Court but we had fun nonetheless. Basically a sort of hidden information betting game where you are trying to position yourself to score points where different patterns of cards are likely to be. Folk can bluff, go all in, and generally jostle for position as the information leaks out as to what is where. Would like to try again when I am a bit less brain fried.
Today, Friday the 13th (oooh, spooky), is the first full day of the con. I can’t wait to play new games, make new friends, celeberate victories, commiserate defeats, and curse luck both good and bad. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, and I do not want to get off.
