2023
It’s time for another Con of Heroes! Here’s what early Thursday setup looks like at the Gamezenter, and the new banner is on display at the Doubletree hotel.
Friday: The first day is underway and hype is high! People are excited to get back and play Marvel Champions again at Con of Heroes, and while picking up SWAG, we heard many stories of returning Con of Heroes visitors! Tony Fanchi, designer for Marvel Champions, also stopped by to check out ongoing games and sign some cards!
SHIELD HQ was even bigger this year, which is fitting; and with more attendees in 2023, the con is already lively just a few hours into day one.
Big thanks to Chris M., who gave the Con of Heroes organizers a special gift! The best part: we can use this hero board during the con with the official 2023 playmat.
At 1:00PM local time, after announcing the FFG designers’ entrance, our Match with Magneto event kicked off.
Our heroes are on the clock as they attempt to stop Magneto’s plan, as the Brotherhood will be flying in every 20 minutes for villainous support! On the other side of the coin, the forces of good are able to stave off Magneto by taking down his scheme: which allows other tables to remove magnet counters from their own game of Magneto.
Here is the winning four player Match with Magneto group below! They finished at 2:15PM local time, a little over an hour from the start of the event. The winning heroes were Black Panther (Protection), Rocket (Protection), Drax (Protection) and Cyclops (Leadership).
At 4PM we started setting up for our first “epic multiplayer” Con of Heroes event. For those of you who haven’t played epic multiplayer before; Fantasy Flight Games created “epic” (giant) multiplayer scenarios for multiple groups to play together. Nothing official was created for Marvel Champions at the time of Con of Heroes 2023, so we answered the call! All three rows will be taking on Kang in Multiverse Meltdown.
This is how packed Con of Heroes 2023 looks on Saturday just three minutes after opening at 10AM!
This year, due to player feedback, we have sign-up sheets for events, as well as “need a player” flags to use to indicate that you need more people.
At 11AM the con participated in the second annual Con of Heroes campaign, which involved a frighteningly friendly Mojo ally, and a lot more surprises! In 2023 our campaign was shortened from four scenarios to three due to feedback, and included showdowns with Crossbones, Master Mold, and Mojo!
In 2023 our group photo session was held on Saturday so more people could participate. This year, we also added an initiative from a con-goer to take another photo in an effort to show the progress of the diversification of women and non-binary Champions players.
After our 6PM raffle, the con geared up to defeat Sandman, who will be flinging a flurry of puns to every group thanks to our resident emcee, Shane. If people didn’t laugh at his puns, they chuckled at his heckling afterward, which adds sand tokens to City Streets!
Sunday was Community Engagement Day: Play with a Con host or a slew of community content creators in an open play day. Kids can attend the con for free this day and we’d love to see families enjoying this game together. Other non-Champions games will also be played throughout the day.
Lead designer Caleb Grace also stopped by on Sunday to hang out with convention-goers, and even got a game in!
That’s it for Con of Heroes 2023! Check out content creator recaps here and here!
2022
The calm before the storm: this is the staff (Mag, KennedyHawk, Hone, Amerikano) setting up Con of Heroes the night before. The second image is our banner on display as attendees checked into the Doubletree hotel the night before the convention. There’s nothing more exciting than pre-convention hype!
SHIELD HQ in all its glory: a free table to pick up heroes, aspect cards, villains, and mods: given how popular it was, expect SHIELD HQ to return in 2023!
Taking part of the first major event, the con crushed Ultron into oblivion on Friday May 20, 2022! Attendees both at home and on location were tasked with defeating 1250 Ultron drones collectively as a group. Three out of the four Con of Heroes staff members joined the fight as the Drone Zone team. The reward for everyone in attendance was a fan-made hero promo card for Black Panther
Attendees were able to check out the raffle prize case, and buy Ironheart and Nova (releasing the same day as the opening of the con) as soon as they entered the con on the first day. Gamezenter also had signs for our event across all their monitors!
Designers Caleb Grace (lead), MJ Newman (guest designer), and Tony Fanchi (designer) were able to make it out to Con of Heroes 2022! They signed some cards, chatted with fans, and were presented with an award from the playtest team.
It was a lively Saturday as the four part campaign kicked off with our custom cards (which were provided as SWAG to attendees); alongside of cookies and drinks provided by the con.
The staff joined along in the 2022 campaign play-along too!
- Mag – Captain Marvel Justice
- Hone – Scarlet Witch Leadership
- Hawk – Black Panther Justice
- Amerikano – Iron Man Justice
Usually Sundays are the most relaxed days for tabletop conventions, but we had a pretty lively crowd. Here they are still checking out SHIELD HQ, and getting some games in (Champions and non-Champions related!).
The Sunday crowd (around 50% of attendees) poses for a group picture: that’s a wrap on Con of Heroes 2022
2023 Events
Thursday (7:30PM CST): MCM Live Show and Open Gaming:
MCM (Marvel Champions Monthly) and many others will be playing all sorts of games in the Doubletree hotel lobby. Stop by to play a game of Champions or other party games and get to know other con-attendees. Bring your favorite party game (or Champions) and let’s hit the tables!
Friday (1PM CST): A Match with Magneto
All tables will face off against Magneto with a non-Brotherhood modular set of their choice.
Friday (4PM CST): Multiverse Meltdown (Epic Multiplayer)
This was the biggest request from the community, and we’re aiming to deliver! You can find more info on the scenario here.
Friday (7PM CST): Marvel Champions Mixer
Grab a drink (alcoholic or not) and play with someone from the Champions community who you haven’t played with before. This is the ideal time to swap playmats for signatures or complete challenge cards.
Saturday (11AM CST): Con of Heroes 2023 Campaign
Join us for our yearly custom campaign event. This year includes three scenarios (down from four), thanks to 2022 community feedback. Mods and campaign cards will be provided as part of admission (unless you purchased the no-SWAG ticket).
Saturday (5PM CST): Group Photo
We’ll be taking a con-wide group photo, so be sure to be around to be included! This was bumped up to Saturday from Sunday due to 2022 attendee feedback.
Saturday (7PM CST): Feeling Fine and Sandy featuring Sandman
During this coarse and punny group event, the room will be taking on a classic Spidey foe. Hopefully, the PA announcements that directly impact the scenario won’t be too rough or irritating!
Saturday (10AM CST): Community Engagement Day
Play with a Con host or a slew of community content creators in an open play day! Kids can attend the con for free this day and we’d love to see families enjoying this game together! Other non-Champions games will also be played throughout the day.
2022 Events
Friday (2:30PM CST): Con of Heroes Vs. Ultron
Ultron is attacking the Con of Heroes compound, and everyone will need to band together to stop him!
Depending on the amount of groups who participate, Ultron will have a set amount of drones that the con needs to defeat (which will be tracked by a con official). All groups, collectively, will try to stop Ultron by eliminating enough drones to win the event. Even if you threat out or are destroyed by Ultron, as long as the drone menace is contained, everyone wins. Groups are free to play on any difficulty they wish. The twist: every group will start on stage 2B!
At the end of the day, we all collectively cleared 1652 drones out of the 1250 goal.
Saturday (12:30PM CST): Con of Heroes 2022 Campaign
Con of Heroes will be hosting a miniature campaign. The gist? You’ll play through a sequence of scenarios in a row in one sitting.
This one is a bit less intense, in the Marvel Champions style, and will consist of four scenarios back to back. Groups are free to play on any difficulty they wish.
Sunday (10:00AM-6:00PM CST): Community/Learn a New Game Day
2023 SWAG
Con of Heroes 2023 premium add-on mat
Players have the option to purchase a playmat for 2023 as an add-on to their ticket (final design/logo pending) until March 1, 2023.
All tickets (except the No-SWAG ticket after April 17) come with multiple items of SWAG: right now we are planning a new first player token using the 2023 Magneto logo!
Like last year, the Con of Heroes key art for 2023 was created by the wonderful team of Dawn Bright and Dan.
We’re hard at work on several other card-based SWAG items, which attendees will be able to enjoy at the con. Previews are available here!
Raffles will also return, as will SHIELD HQ!
2022 SWAG
Con of Heroes 2022 premium add-on mat
Players had the option to purchase a playmat for 2022 as an add-on to their ticket.
All tickets come with multiple items of SWAG. Here’s the first piece for 2022: a customized Con of Heroes first player token, to use at the con!
And here’s another piece of 2022 SWAG: new cards to use at the con! Each player received two modular sets and a full set of campaign cards for our Saturday event.
Con of Heroes 