Professionals Tamborine Mountain 
On Saturday the 3rd of February, 2024, armies clashed at the Tamborine Mountain State High School. Battles were fought, victories were won, and valiant soldiers received their service colours, all under the watching eyes of giants. Or, in other words, it was Tambocon. Jon-Marc Lamprecht developed a love for the tabletop miniature wargame of Warhammer as he grew up on the mountain, and after the tornado that devastated so many residents in December 2023, it was his heartfelt drive to share the joy that illuminated his childhood Christmases with those who’d been robbed of cheer that led to the mountain’s inaugural tabletop gaming convention. With the glowing reviews from participants about “the community feel” and that “we definitely need more of this”, imploring future participants that “you MUST come again!”, we were incredibly lucky to borrow a few moments of Jon’s time to dig into what makes Warhammer so special to him, how it brought so much joy to the community on convention day, and the tantalizing possibility of future Tambocon events.
by Kyle Hitchmough
What gave you the idea to organise Tambocon?
The idea to first do this came from the tornado. A lot of the families up here went through some pretty rough times. Some of the kids lost everything at Christmas. One of the biggest parts of Christmas for me growing up was getting boxes of Warhammer, so having some kids take away some models from today might not be much but it’s their entry point into an amazing avenue to take their artwork. That’s what I did. I’ve been professionally painting for about two years, I do models and custom card artwork alterations. I started reaching out to all my contacts in the Warhammer community. I’ve met amazing people from all over the world. There’s been international donors.
For those who weren’t in attendance, can you describe what Tambocon was?
It’s sort of like a miniature Comic-Con style event for the mountain. We’ve never had an event like this ever up here. I thought it’d be cool to give the community an escape from the darkness of this Christmas, and everything else going on in the world. Escaping into miniatures even for a day is good for your mental health. It’s super relaxing. There were free minis and paints available, people could come and learn how to play the tabletop game… I tried to make sure there was something for everyone, even the really little kids who couldn’t really get involved in the build process. It’s giving the community an entry point into discovering Warhammer for themselves. Not everyone knows that miniature painting is a thing that exists, and then they come and see it in person and it’s a completely different experience to seeing photos.
How would you describe Warhammer to someone who’s unfamiliar?
Warhammer is a lot of things. To me it’s an avenue to explore my creativity, picking out every detail and creating a story through the art. For example, you might have a figure of a knight clad in plate armor. Someone might come along and paint that armor a flat silver and just leave it there and call him done. But I like to account for the detail: has it been raining? Is this soldier freezing in the cold wet mud? What have the natural elements done to his armor? What about scars from his previous encounters, gashes and metal deformed by the weapon of a worthy opponent? But Warhammer is also a tabletop game, where players gather and command armies on the table rather than a screen. Friendships are made, dice are rolled, and amazing tales of glory or misfortune are immortalised in memory.
Do you think Tambocon will lead to the growth of a tabletop gaming scene on the mountain?
Hopefully! I’ve been given permission to run the gaming club at the high school. Several big boxes are being donated to the high school, and I’m going to paint them up to a professional standard. For the kids at the high school to come in and see these professionally painted models and be able to play the game with them, it gives them something to aspire to. You can take it as far as you want either as a wargamer or as a miniature painter, whatever appeals to you.
What was the turnout like?
We had a total turnout of about 50-80 people today, which was more than I would have hoped for!
Do you plan for this to become a reoccurring event?
Yes! I really want to see the tabletop community explode from something like this. We’re 100% planning to come back bigger and better next year or even later this year. I’ve already got sponsors onboard for the next one. Irresistable Force is more than happy to come back down from Logan, they were running 40K games. They have one of the biggest hobby stores in Queensland.
As a local, what’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?
Even though the storm brought so much destruction, it also brought the community together. People were checking on each other, going door to door making sure the neighbours were okay. Seeing that was just crazy. Through it I met a whole bunch of amazing people, like Farid, who was involved in getting generators out to the community. He’s a good mate of mine now, who I wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for the tornado. Adversity brings people together.
What’s your favourite thing to do on the mountain?
There’s a lot of spots on the mountain that are off the beaten track. There’s multiple waterfalls all around the mountain if you know where to look for them. There’s so much untouched bushland with so much beauty.
What did you enjoy most about the event today?
Just seeing people get involved, especially the young kids. I’m just thankful that there’s a lot more acceptance in our culture surrounding nerdy stuff. Now you have Critical Role and Stranger Things. Doing something like this, and having the sponsors send these big boxes that I can split up and the kids can take as many as they want home, it gives them an entry point into an expensive hobby, a foot up over the wall.
Is there anything else you’d like to go on the record?
I’m really looking forward to the next one! We could get a proper tournament going in this space, fill it out with tables. The school has been more than accommodating, Tracey Brose has been amazing. If we didn’t have this venue, I don’t know where else I would have run it. They didn’t charge me anything to set up, which was absolutely incredible, and we got to see how the south-east Queensland miniature community really rallied behind the mountain to give us a nice day.
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