by Pat Nevan

Good old Cancon, Australia’s premier AOS gaming event, founded in 2017 by Clint Mallet and his merry band.¹ Cancon itself is Australia’s major wargaming convention held around the Australia Day weekend (Jan 26th) in our nation’s benighted capital of Canberra. Call to Glory, which is universally referred to within our community as Cancon, is the official name for the AOS event held as part of the overall Cancon convention.

Long story short, Cancon started at 40 people but grew to become Australia’s, and at one point the world’s biggest AOS event at over 200 people. It quickly gained the status of an annual pilgrimage to the widely-scattered AOS communities of Australia and its importance in our scene cannot be overstated.

Measured Gaming Cruise to Cancon 2018

Covid gave Cancon the same dick kicking that it gave to everything else but in 2023 Clint, in the finest tradition of aging heroes who are too old for this shit, came out of retirement to run one last Cancon which was awesome. Still, that was that, and Clint announced his retirement and willingness to pass on the name and rep of the event to whoever could run with it.

This provoked some high level discussion² amongst the AOS community. We knew we needed a Cancon, plenty of gaming groups and people were willing to pitch in but who would be a big enough sucker to take on the task or organizing such a massive event, effectively from scratch as far as mats and terrain are concerned?

Enter Capital Country Wargaming who took up the challenge with a 200 player Call to Glory event run in a new format over three days. Cancon 24 is in the American style, with 2 days of singles and a 3rd day of elimination amongst a Top 8 to determine an overall winner, while everyone else gets to play in a doubles tournament called Friendly Fyre on Day 3.

All good news of course but I was left wondering “Who the hell are these guys”? Now I could find out by reading something or asking people but knowing how important the details of organizing Australian tournaments are to the international readers of this humble blog, I decided to ask one of the organizers and grill them for the record. Jason Harris was decent enough to spare me some time for an interview and to answer a few questions.

(By interview I mean we had a chat over messenger and I’m paraphrasing and printing the questions and answers. Any errors or misrepresentations are on my end. Also shout out to my boy NC Dave of Stats and Ladders fame for setting the whole thing up. Got a 200 player event you need to run smoothly, use Stats and Ladders.)

TLDR: Cancon is in very capable hands with a different format and should be a big hit. They could still use a bit of help with terrain so hit up jason@calltoglory.au if you are a Do-Something-For-Your-Community type of guy. Also we are all getting blitzed on the Saturday.

Measured Gaming Cruise to Cancon 2019³

Pat: So can you give us a bit of backstory on who you guys are and how you decided to take on the Cancon challenge?

Jason: I grew up in Canberra in the 80’s and can remember distinctly the first time I went to Cancon – one of my brothers was playing in the 15mm Ancients tournament and I tagged along. I was a D&D player, but there was something about moving whole armies around the table that had me hooked. I met Dave Hurley after I moved back to Aus/Canberra in 2010 and he ran the Warhammer Fantasy tournament at Cancon for several years. Since AOS dropped, he’s developed the Canberra Age of Sigmar (CAOS) team and travelled to events around the country showing off his hobby and gaming talents. James Maybury is based out of Goulburn and has invested his efforts in building the Goulburn Gamers Guild (G3) but he may be more recognisable for his work with the Mortally Wounded Podcast and the annual Sydney Slaughter tournament that draws players from around the country. Last, but certainly not least, Mat Holt is the manager of the Warhammer Belconnen store in Canberra and a few years ago when we caught wind of the first AOS tournament at Cancon, we concocted the idea of starting a local gaming club to compete in the tournament – which has grown into Beasts Gaming. In January 2023, as soon as the announcement was made that Clint and the Heralds of War would be stepping down from running AOS at Cancon, I looked across the room as these guys and a few others started grouping together to discuss possibilities for the future – and this is how Capital Country Wargaming was conceived.

Pat: Ok so the whole thing is a sort of Canberra/NSW AOS Justice League. I remember the early Cancons had a bunch of help from the Belconnen store. James has been organizing since the start; there’s a lot of experience there. Was the decision to start at 200 players a hard one to make?

Jason: Hahaha…I actually laughed out loud at this question. I started by throwing the number 300 around to the team and Canberra Games Society (CGS), to which I received questions regarding my mental stability. I guess I just wanted to dream a little at what it may be able to get to. As a team, we discussed starting out small, as well as even moving off-site from the Cancon event. But it was the sense that we didn’t want to lose momentum that brought us to land on 200 players…that is of course, so long as we can get support from other teams to provide mats and terrain? Clubs from NSW, VIC and a couple from QLD were quick to offer their support. So with that reassurance, we went ahead with 200 spots. Selling over 160 on the first night the tickets were released is probably a good indicator that 200 was the right target to set for Call to Glory 2024!

Pat: I get it, Cancon away from Cancon wouldn’t be Cancon. How has the process of coming up with 100 tables’ worth of mats and terrain been? I keep picturing sweatshops in the bowels⁴ of Canberra full of press-ganged gamers sticking flock on hills.

Jason: A sweatshop in Canberra…now why didn’t I think of that! Through support from clubs like CrutchHammer, Measured Gaming, CAOS, Beasts Gaming, and G3⁵ we had a lot of terrain and mats sorted initially for the event, but as we get closer, there’s definitely still some gaps to fill. I shouldn’t forget to mention that we’ve also got a bunch of terrain that has been donated by GW as part of their sponsorship for the event – that will probably hit the production line soon. And we’ll be adding some mats from TableWar Australia too. I should also give a shout out to Heralds of War who have recently offered to do up a few themed tables for the event for us. Honestly though, we’ve still got a bit of work to go on this and could do with a little more support from any clubs who feel they could provide even just a couple of tables’ worth – that would help us out. If anyone’s interested, they can send me an email and we’ll be in touch. jason@calltoglory.au

Pat: Yeah I’ll plug the hell out of it. So what was the thinking behind moving to a three day format?

Jason: Realising that we have a long weekend for the next 3 years, now just seemed like as good a time as any to add the Day 3 elimination finals. As a team, we were quite undecided about that for a while and had to talk around to a few other TOs and some of the players who compete at the Masters level. I even put out a couple of posts on Facebook groups to see if there was interest in a Day 3 AND what would people want to see. Clint had told me he had thought about adding a doubles tournament to the mix as well. But it was important to make the Day 3 optional, as well as provide an opportunity for players who weren’t up for Call to Glory, to have a more relaxed fun event they could sign up for – and Friendly Fyre was the result. Back on the elimination finals, I think I was also inspired by what I had seen at the Australian Masters tournament this year. Watching the lowest seeded player take on the #1 seeded player and win in the first round, really shook up the playing field for the event. I think a Top 8 elimination finals takes away the points differential so the best at the tournament can go head-to-head – I’m looking forward to seeing who comes out on top!

Pat: You’re right, that was an amazing first round – the buzz in the room was incredible.⁶ I didn’t realise we had the long weekend three years in a row so that takes care of my next question about sticking to the format next year.

Jason: It really boils down to how well things go this year. If people enjoy the format, I’m hopeful we can continue with both the elimination finals AND the doubles event. But…I’ve also been looking at other formats being used, like the one at Warhammer Fest 2023 – with 6-8 rounds over 3 days – making Day 3 “optional” for those who want to compete for the podium. We’ll probably start with asking players to let us know what they thought of the format before deciding on any possible changes though.

Pat: Sensible approach, I do feel Cancon needs to be unique amongst Australian events. Even the classic six rounds over two days really stood out from the field. Just a few technical questions. How many rounds in the two qualifying days? If it’s five, which day is getting 2 rounds?

Jason: We’ll have 5 rounds over the first two days – 3 rounds on Friday and 2 rounds on Saturday – at which point we will have an awards celebration with trophies for hobby, sports and even the “Best Overall” to this point in the tournament. This means that whoever takes out the top seeded position at the end of day 2 will qualify for the invitation to attend the World Championships of Warhammer in 2024! On Sunday, the elimination finals will be “up to” 3 rounds with 4 games to start – 1st v. 8th – 2nd v. 7th – and so on. Winners move on to round 2 where winners will move on in round 3 to play for 1st + 2nd and the 2 players who lost in round 2 will play for 3rd.

Pat: Cool so I’m assuming there are a few people with a doubles ticket who won’t be using it if they don’t make the 8. Will there be an opportunity to ass about with doubles teams before the Sunday?

Jason: I’m hoping the doubles event is just a lot of fun for people playing in a different format. So once the Top 8 are determined on Saturday afternoon – there’s plenty of time for a few switch ups in teams that we should be able to get sorted before the draw for Sunday’s doubles.

Pat: I think that’s enough to be going on with. Anything you need people to do or want to add. Waitlist? Shoutout the sponsors all that sort of thing

Jason: Our main sponsor – Irresistible Force – is offering a discount code for free shipping within Australia. Tagged Events, TableWar, Baron of Dice and Artis Opus are putting together swag and prizes for the events. With only 4 tickets remaining for Call to Glory, we’ll have a waitlist available on the FB event page in the event that some of the registered players drop out⁷ before refunds close in January.

Pat: Outstanding. Thanks for your time look forward to seeing you there

Jason: Thanks Pat. Looking forward to seeing the write up and even more to seeing you there

Measured Gaming Cruise to Cancon 2020

What a solid guy and thanks again for your time Jason. So there you have it folks, Call to Glory 2024 explained. I’m beyond thrilled that the annual pilgrimage is going ahead and us Measured Gaming boys will be at the event with the traditional carpark beers going. I didn’t realize it at the time but the early finish on Saturday means it’s party time on Saturday night. Cancon is the traditional time for Australia’s gaming clubs to flex so if you were looking to big note yourself and one up your rivals, Saturday night would be the time to organize something. Only 8 sweaty nerds really have to worry about the results on Saturday.

Feel free to pitch in and see if you can help out with terrain, that email again is jason@calltoglory.au

At the time I did the interview they were four tickets away from a sell out, so only a few of you prevaricating fence-sitters need to sign up for the best gaming weekend of your lives. Get around it, look forward to seeing you there.

Cruise to Cancon 2023, the numbers rise and fall over the years, the waistlines only expand.

1. Crediting them all would require more actual research than I feel like doing but a lot of people helped out over the Cancon years, notably Trav and the crew from Toowoomba ↩︎
2. I do realize how pompous the phrase ‘high level discussion’ is when it relates to people in black t-shirts talking about their toy soldiers instead of the UN Security council but whatever, it’s an established scene and the people who run stuff do talk to each other from time to time. ↩︎
3. Yes I am spamming my gaming club’s photos, write your own article if you don’t like it ↩︎
4. For those unfamiliar with the Australian Capital it’s pretty much all Bowels, Asshole and a very good light rail system. ↩︎
5. A who’s who of the Big Swinging Dicks of Australian AOS clubs. Measured Gaming in particular. If the small shriveled choad of your Australian AOS club isn’t in the list do something about it. jason@caltoglory.au ↩︎
6. Pro-tip for building hobby clout, never miss a chance to let people know you were at Masters. They don’t need to know your results. ↩︎
7. There will be a few, don’t let it put you off being wait listed ↩︎