[VEG] Finnish Grand Prix Helsinki / Ropecon - 28th July 2018

www.facebook.com/events/2070087793255985/ www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/8855 VTES European Grand Prix - FINLAND 28 July 2018, 11:00 – 20:00 Messukeskus Convention Center in Pasila, Helsinki (exact address for you navigator: Messuaukio 1, 00520 Helsinki) The same place hosted the 75th World Science Fiction Convention in 2017 and our friends there did amazing amount of solid information regarding the immediate vicinity, Helsinki and Finland in general so we'll be linking heavily to their excellent resources here. Entry fee: Free with Ropecon entry (42€ for the weeked but 38€ if pre-purchased. Day tickets are also available and go for 30 euros for Friday & Saturday and 20 for Sunday.) More info at Ropecon site: 2018.ropecon.fi/eng/tickets/ The traditional big Ropecon tournament is a Grand Prix event this year. We are trying out a new date and time slot, so instead of a (very) late night tournament this is actually run during the day and will probably even (gasp!) feature a lunch break. So far no additional VTES events have been booked for either Friday or Sunday but this will might change as traditionally there has been at least draft on one days. Ropecon is the largest non-commercial role-playing convention in Europe with some 4000+ attendees. The three day convention offers a diverse program schedule suitable for all ages from tabletop and live-action role-playing games to card games, miniature war games and board games. In addition to tournaments and other gaming related programs Ropecon also features lectures, panel discussions and workshops on a wide variety of topics. The convention opens at 15:00 on Friday and closes on Sunday late afternoon / early evening, in between it never sleeps. Read more about Ropecon at their site: 2018.ropecon.fi/eng/about/ For the VTES Grand Prix you can either pre-register or register on site. On-site registration closes at 10:30 on Saturday! More information, including pre-registration options, will appear at vtes.orava.org/ropecon2018. Stay tuned. (ON SITE) ACCOMODATION Sleeping bag accommodation available free of charge for all visitors throughout the convention weekend at the convention site. Please note that Ropecon does not offer any accommodation supplies, so remember to bring a warm mattress, a pillow and a blanket or a sleeping bag to ensure a more comfortable rest. The floor of the hall is made of concrete and as such can get pretty chilly. Please remember that the accommodation area is meant only for sleeping, not for storage: you can store your mattress, sleeping bag and other items at the luggage storage during the day. More on accommodation at the Ropecon site: 2018.ropecon.fi/eng/for-visitors/accommodation/ Messukeskus is just one stop from Helsinki Central Railway Station so even if you don't want to use the closest hotel Pasila (Original Sokos Hotel Pasila as the Holiday Inn right next to the venue is being renovated at the time of the convention) most hotels in downtown Helsinki are just a few minutes train ride away. One of the closest ones is Hotel Arthur and it is reasonably priced (when considering rather high Finnish hotel prices). Another one that has traditionally been on the cheaper side is Hotel Anna located some 10 -15 minute walk from the Central Railway Station. Omena Hotels and Forenom Aparthotels And Hostels offer very cheap apartments and nothing else. More info on hotels can be found at Worldcon 75 site (scroll all the way down to the "Detailed Hotel Information" and the map is rather good for checking the location of the hotels compared to the Messukeskus venue): www.worldcon.fi/about-worldcon-75/location/hotels/ GETTING THERE Book a flight to Helsinki and take the half an hour's trip with I or P train from the airport to Pasila station (5.50€ or so) and the venue is right next to Pasila station (which is 2nd to last stop before Helsinki Central railway Station). Also from airport bus 615 or Finnair's own shuttle bus (aka. Finnair City Bus) will take you to Helsinki right next to Central Railway Station. Taxi should be around 40€ or so (as always in Finland , you sure can tip if you want but no one is going to frown on you if you don't as tip is not expected). Worldcon 75 Progress Report 2 had a nice article about getting to Helsinki. According to it, in addition to checking the flights to Helsinki, you might want to check the flight options to Stockholm in Sweden (as you can experience the exotic atmosphere of the Stockholm-Helsinki Ferry. Also remember that there are ferries also going to Turku, Åbo in swedish, which are cheaper since the route isn't as long and Turku is only some 2 hour train / bus ride from Helsinki...), Tallinn in Estonia (ferries shuttle all the time between Tallinn and Helsinki almost non-stop and the trip takes just few hours. So driving to Estonia and taking the Tallinn ferry would probably be the most cost effective method to reach Helsinki for all Eastern Europeans!) or even St. Petersburg, Russia (once again, ferries to Helsinki). One option might be to fly to Tampere with Ryanair from Bremen or Budapest and take the couple hour long train or bus ride to Helsinki from there. More info on the page 7 of the Worldcon 75's Progress Report 2: www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/progress_report_2_a4.pdf Ropecon's article on getting to Ropecon (including info if arriving with your own car -a humongous car park is just by the venue): 2018.ropecon.fi/eng/for-visitors/getting-here/ Worldcon 75's article on getting to the venue: www.worldcon.fi/about-worldcon-75/location/getting-to-messukeskus/ The train and bus timetables (trains depart roughly every 10-15 minutes most of the day): www.hsl.fi/en/timetables-and-routes/terminals/transport-links-helsinki-airport Worldcon 75's very comprehensive article on Helsinki’s Public Transportation System, concentrating naturally on getting to Pasila and to the venue, on page 19-23 of progress Report 5 www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/progress_report_5_a4.pdf EATING & DRINKING Drinking alcohol at the venue is prohibited and will get you promptly booted from the premises, the only exception is the costly on site bars, which are even more expensive than the costly Finnish alcohol and food in general. Non-alcoholic drinks and food/ snacks are OK. Ropecon's article on eating: 2018.ropecon.fi/eng/for-visitors/eat-drink/ Worldcon 75's staggeringly exhausting guide to eating in Helsinki (68 fricking pages!) has general info as well as restaurant specific reviews: www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/restaurant_guide_web.pdf Worldcon 75's article on Finnish specialites, Finnish Foods and Where to Find Them, on page 25 of progress report 3. Sauteéd reindeer, Karelian pie, Baltic vendace, Salmiakki, Gin Long Drink, bread-cheese, etc -it is all included): www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/progress_report_3_a4.pdf SOME GENERAL ARTICLES ON HELSINKI AND FINLAND Since the nice people of Worldcon 75 also did some other informative articles on relevant subjects were mentioning those too in case someone wants to dig a little deeper, see the sights etc. Progress Report 1 Finland: an Assortment of Notes and Information (pages12-14) www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/progress_report_1.pdf Progress Report 2 Non-fandom things to do in Helsinki, if you have the time (pages 8-9) Älä hätäile! Don’t panic! -a short guide for pronouncing finnish (pages 12-13) The Word on the Street -guide to streetsigns/maps etc (pages 14-15) www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/progress_report_2_a4.pdf Progress Report 4 Sauna in Finland (pages 17-21) Helsinki, Daughter of the Baltic Sea -some general sights etc (pages 22-25) Penrose tiling and other nerdy sights (pages 26-27) www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/progress_report_4_a4.pdf Progress Report 5 Have Some Time off -more sights/places to see (pages 30-31) Good to Know and Nice to Know -general and uselul info (pages 33-35) www.worldcon.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/progress_report_5_a4.pdf An unique sight that is more or less omitted from everything above is the Temppeliaukio Chruch (aka Church of the Rock aka Rock Church) which is pretty unique in it's setup as it is hewn in the bedrock and has a huge copper dome above it. Some locals call it Anti-Devil Bunker. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temppeliaukio_Church www.facebook.com/temppeliaukio/ ROPECON 2018.ropecon.fi/eng/ www.facebook.com/ropecon/ Finnish Politics!

I think its worth noting that purchasing the Ropecon ticket (weekend or day) will make all tournaments (except maybe drafts? Not 100% sure) free to enter. The philosophy of Ropecon is that once you pay yourself in, you're free to enter what you please. People who play other games besides VTES might be interested in this. Also after the poll about the date, it might be worth noting in the title or topic that the Grand prix tournament is indeed on saturday. Everyone can check their calendars, but still ^^ Smoking craters tell no tales. —Tex talks Battletech

> Bloodartist wrote: > I think its worth noting that purchasing the Ropecon ticket (weekend or day) will make all > tournaments (except maybe drafts? Not 100% sure) free to enter. The philosophy of Ropecon is that once you pay yourself in, you're free to enter what you please. > People who play other games besides VTES might be interested in this. > Hence the original post had "Entry fee: Free with Ropecon entry" in the beginning... Drafts are never included in the Ropecon entry fee, but Ropecon's philosophy is that the tournament organizers etc can't charge for entry. For drafts people use BYOB (bring your own boosters) and at least Fantasiapelit makes a point of checking which products need to be brought for each and every draft at the convention. Finnish Politics!

my plane tickets are already taken. I would be present Greiner alain 3200289

Welcome! A little bird kinda already told me that you were coming... Finnish Politics!

I am booked as well! Ginés Quiñonero 3190007 V:EKN Website Coordinator

Bienvenido, El Jefe! Finnish Politics!

As it happens they just released the programme for the event today. It is not the final one. Additions and changes are possible. Here is a link to all the events containing "In English" keyword. -Click the programme's name and you open the description for it. By clicking the "Avaa kaikki" on top right you open all the descriptions. -Unfortunately it seems that half of the people offering their programme in English haven't actually written an English description for it (Including the VTES programme :/ ). Odd... 2018.ropecon.fi/opas/#prog/tag:In+English Finnish Politics!

I kind of feel like I should add Villa Maukula as an unofficial accommodation listing here for vtes players. We are receiving 5+ swedish, two french and an odd spanish vtes guest at the moment. Everyone is welcome! Baron of Turku ************************* I am love, I am smile / I am the Earth defiled.

You are awesome! <3 Finnish Politics!

Hello people, we are going to get the finals streamed again. I'm again planning to be presenter, and it seems the other host would be Orian. That is, barring the unhappy instance of one of us being forced to enter the finals ourselves... Anyhow, we've talked about several improvements with the wonderful tech people actually doing all the hard work involved with the actual streaming and one of those would be presenting the decklists of the finalists to the viewers. For this, it sure would be wonderful if the participants of the tournament took some time and entered their decklists to Secret Library beforehand so we could fetch them during the finals. Or entered it there and exported ("Save as file" then just copy) it to an email which they had in readiness to send to Petri () via their cell phone or laptop at the convention. No need to use Secret Library but it sure would be nice, if possible, to have all the lists in the same format; all the card types in certain order, disciplines of vamps listed etc. Much more viewer friendly... What is the format Secret Library uses? Here is an example: Deck Name: EC 2016 - Last Chance Qualifier: All Tomorrow's Parties Author: Janne Lönnqvist Description: Winning decklist for Last Chance Qualifier, created and played by Janne Lönnqvist (FIN) -- 3 GW 8.5 VP -- 2.5 VP www.vekn.net/event-calendar/event/8505 Deck Name: All Tomorrow's Parties Author: Janne Lönnqvist Description: Tweaks on Juha Nyholm's design Crypt (12 cards; Capacity min=2 max=8 avg=4.42) =============================================== 1x Beckett ADV 8 cel tha ANI FOR PRO Gangrel:3 1x Creamy Jade 5 aus cel vic PRE !Toreador:3 1x Cristos Mantigo 5 aus cel dom obf pre !Toreador:3 1x Dominique Santo Paulo 6 pot pre AUS CEL !Toreador:4 1x Jonathan Gursel 3 aus pre !Toreador:4 1x Justine Chen, Innocent 2 pre !Toreador:4 1x L'Epuisette 4 aus cel pro !Toreador:4 1x Loonar 4 cel PRE !Toreador:4 1x Miguel Santo Domingo 7 cel for POT PRE !Brujah:3 1x Monique Kim 3 aus cel !Toreador:4 1x Nicholas Chang 2 aus !Toreador:3 1x Sabrina 4 aus cel pre !Toreador:3 Library (89 cards) ================== Master (27) 1x Communal Haven: Cathedral 1x Elder Library 6x Foundation Exhibit 1x Gird Minions 1x Heidelberg Castle, Germany 1x Hungry Coyote, The 1x Information Highway 4x Life in the City 1x Not to Be 4x Palla Grande 2x Parthenon, The 1x Pentex(TM) Subversion 1x Powerbase: Rome 2x Sunset Strip, Hollywood Event (8 ) 1x Blood Weakens 1x Break the Code 1x Fall of the Camarilla 1x Fall of the Sabbat 1x Narrow Minds 1x Rising, The 1x Slow Withering, The 1x Veil of Darkness Action (20) 1x Aranthebes, The Immortal 7x Art Scam 12x Embrace, The Political Action (19) 13x Consanguineous Boon 2x Disputed Territory 2x Kine Resources Contested 1x Rumors of Gehenna 1x Year of Fortune Ally (2) 1x Carlton Van Wyk (Hunter) 1x Goth Band Action Modifier (7) 7x Change of Target Combat (6) 6x Dodge Finnish Politics!

We'll be getting the stream's YouTube address tomorrow but here is the general address for all the upcoming Ropecon streams: 2018.ropecon.fi/stream/ Also, in addition to the actual finals we're trying to do a short teaser about the event which should air before the finals. Fingers crossed! More info as we get there... Finnish Politics!

The finals will (live) stream at There are also some pre-finals interviews available at The 3rd round is ongoing right now. 49 players.

Ah, seems like nobody is in a hurry to write a report. The video above does tell the story, though. There were 49 players to my knowledge and the winner was Mika Nurmikolu (with Goratrix afaik) in a final table that went to time and thus gave the win to the top seed, just like last year. It was cool to play against some of the 'international big names' Hopefully a TWD follows soon. Smoking craters tell no tales. —Tex talks Battletech

As always Petri will transcript the report from his notes when he has time (BIG chore) and he also needs to get the decklists from all the finalists which sometimes can be a quite a wait... Finnish Politics!

Thank you for the stream. Why Orian didn't use the Anarch Troublemaker for his lunge? IMHO he deserved the win. A lot of useless talk in the game as usual. Baron of Frankfurt

> Joscha wrote: > Thank you for the stream. > We have the Starbacon guys who do the technical aspects of streaming for Ropecon to thank for that! > Joscha wrote: > Why Orian didn't use the Anarch Troublemaker for his lunge? > Well, I ain't Orian but I assume that against Mika's deck it is pretty much useless as a minion tapper. The Goratrix wall deck is filled to the brim with wakes... Finnish Politics!

Blood of Sandman FTW! Prince of Paris, France Ratings Coordinator, Rules Director

> Lönkka wrote: > > > Joscha wrote: > > Why Orian didn't use the Anarch Troublemaker for his lunge? > > > Well, I ain't Orian but I assume that against Mika's deck it is pretty much useless as a minion tapper. The Goratrix wall deck is filled to the brim with wakes... > Yep, that's true. But Mika let Omaya unlocked. Could mean sth. And he played two bouncecards with her and unlocked Goratrix. And finally two locked minions are two wakecards more Mika needs. Alas, you always know better afterwards. But it was clear it is the last chance to get Mika and watching the film I have got the impression (seeing Mika cycling and topdecking a deflection) it could have work out. Baron of Frankfurt

I did use anarch troublemarker on last turn. I think he played a wake on Omaya to block my first bleed attempt, and then it was time. IC Organized play coordinator Please contact me with any OP query using the mail in my profile

Still waiting for that TWD report It would be fun to listen people telling their stories about the tournament. Smoking craters tell no tales. —Tex talks Battletech

You try to write down the transcript and see how quickly such things get done And have a family life at the same time to boot. Also, often Petri has needed to wait for all the finalists to send him the decklist. Not all people manage do this quickly. Some are extremely sloooooow and no amount of poking will change that but rather only piss them off which isn't really helpful. Cool down. It'll arrive sooner or later. You need your finals fix, you go watch the video again... It always has. Finnish Politics!

Report now (finally) available, www.vekn.net/forum/event-reports-and-twd/76979-report-twd-ropecon-2018-finnish-grand-prix As Janne said, I've been a bit swamped with things at this end, and haven't had the energy to type up everything until now. Sorry about that, guys. Still missing Henrik's decklist, I'll add that if/when I get it.

Ropecon questionnaire (also in glorious Queen's english!): ropecontypeform.typeform.com/to/gDDhoJ Finnish Politics!

> Lönkka wrote: > Ropecon questionnaire for attendees (also in glorious Queen's english!): > > ropecontypeform.typeform.com/to/gDDhoJ > Finnish Politics!