Historicon 2015

I’m sorry that it has been so long since my last update this blog but  I've been crazy busy and haven't had the chance.

I managed to  attend  Historicon this year, which keeps my record, not having  missed for about 10 years.

Historicon this year had a great number in attendance. There were a lot of games this year, and some

great looking ones at that. Many people put a lot of time and effort into their tables, not to mention money. Having said that  there were still quite a few empty tables. Maybe the location is what is deterring game masters from attending. We defiantly could use more game masters putting on games, not just gamers attending just to play.

It seemed to be better flowing this year and more organized than the last couple years they had it in Fredericksburg, VA.

Hobby university had some really great classes on painting and terrain making.  Wargames Soldiers and Strategies very own, Chrissy  (unfortunately I don't know her last name), did a great class on painting 28 mm World War 2 German camouflage. I didn't get the chance to attend either day because there was room for only 6 people and I was playing a Chain of Command game on Saturday, on Friday the class was filled up by the time I got there. There was a bunch of other classes I got to observe that were awesome and very informative on painting miniatures and terrain making.

The dealer’s area, was a great disappointment this year! The worse I’ve seen in the 16 years of attending Historicon. There were far fewer dealers this year, with huge areas taken up by Flames of War and All Quiet on the Martian Front.  They both had large separate tables to display their games. A lot of booths were also non-historical dealers. And the other few booths they had were taken up with non hobby oriented booths, like super glue and a Liquor and Wine store. Many of the old standbys no longer show up – rather running a discount sale on line during the Historicon period. They miss the point that many by at conventions rather than on line so that they can see and touch the merchandise before they buy!

Usually the shopping is what a lot of people look forward to the most and I imagine there were a lot of disappointed costumers that are going to have to spend their money online. 

The food wasn't that great either, especially for the money they were charging for cheese burgers and French fries.

Other than some mild things that need to be worked on, the atmosphere at Historicon is always unmatched. It's always great seeing friends and playing games with friends you only get to see once 

or twice a year!

I look forward to seeing everyone again next year ! 

Here are some pictures of the action ! 

                                                        Days of Days (sword beach)

                             
                               

the biggest ancients game I've ever seen

WW2 skirmish game 

                                     

                                     

28 mm Chain of Command game I played in, put on by a great guy Ron Carnegie.  it was May 1940, I was playing as the french and managed to stop the German hoard.

                                     

Here I am in the white shirt planning the French defense and choosing support with my comrade.

                                     

                               

this was from the painting competition, Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) firing at the german Tiger in Saving Private Ryan.

                                      

         

these group of pictures were from a 60 something mm WW2 skirmish game

     

                                     

                                 

                                       

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

                                     

Brad Pitt Fury 60 something mm figure

                                    

Napoleonics

                                    

                                    

 It is always a great time at Historicon.

There was a lot of Great looking games this year!

A lot more than I got the chance to take pictures of.

I look forward to going next year, if everything goes according to plan through out the year.

Huzzah 2015

This weekend I attended Huzzah!, a great convention in Portland, Maine that was 2 1/2 days long, with a lot of great games, vendors and people. It also had a  board game room tucked in off to the side where I had an opportunity to put on an Axis and Allies game.  That was a lot fun as I seldom have the chance to play it at home.

My Friday night began after a little over 2 hour drive, checking into the hotel and getting some dinner with my grandfather at the Long Horn steak house. Back at the Con, I kicked off a weekend of gaming with the highly anticipated WW1 Chain of Command game that I had pre-registered for. Some pictures of the board and fight below.

As the German player we had to make a night time raid on a British trench line and kidnap the British captain that had much needed knowledge about the recent build up and activity of the British forces.

The Germans had 2 rifle squads and 2 storm trooper squads and had already made a breach in the barbed wire at two places and had advanced a rifle squad into British trench.

The British players were surprised-on just the second German initiative a German rifle section close assaulted a British squad and wiped out the entire squad with thier junior leader. Very bad dice rolling by the British dropped their Force Morale to 3! From there they could never really bounce back to mount any real resistance.

My comrades and I were able to grab the British captain and get him back to the German lines, a stunning German VICTORY !! Here's some more pictures of the action.

Saturday morning I put on my first game, which was Axis and Allies, 1940 the board game. The players were a great group of guys who knew the game well which always makes for a fun, fast paced (as fast as you can go in Axis and Allies) game. The Germans won as they broke the back of the British Navy and the Russian front line,  the      allies were just never able to mount an effective counter attack anywhere except for some futile Russian counter attacks that did nothing but help speed  the collapse of the allies, as Italy over ran the British in Egypt and the Medeteranian. All this happening before the 4th turn when the United States could enter the conflict.

A early snap of the action, 

Later on that night I put on a "pick-up" Chain of Command game with John from (http://fuentesdeonoro.blogspot.com/) my grandfather Dick Bryant (Mgluteus.blogspot.com and Kingston Irregulars  club member Dick White and myself. 

We had planned the pick up game as to who the players  were going to be but the  scenario was made up on the spot. I brought  as much stuff as I could for the CoC game but had definatly forgot some material. We rolled for a random mission and played a delaying action. 

John brought his Red Devils (British paratroopers): Force Rating +8 and 6 command dice.

The Germans fielded a regular panzer grenadier platoon: Force Rating +1 with 5 command dice.

From the start things didn't go well for the British as the terrain did not favor the attacker, also the dice Gods were just not on their side this game. 

the end of the patrol phase

The British having to attack the long way up the table, the Germans had only 3 patrol markers and were able to get them locked down relatively quickly, before the British had the chance to grab any decent ground for their JOPs. That being said heres some pictures of the action and terrain below.

Heres the action

Things did not go well for the British as the Germans were able to delay the Britsh paratroopers advance,Inflicting major casualties without loosing many of their own men.

I also had the chance to play in Eureka miniatures' showcasing of the Chain of Command game at Huzzah, to get people interested and give them an idea of how the game is played.

The gaming going on around Huzzah

This was a Bolt Action game

In action

Waterloo

American Cival war

Command decision 

Overall, Huzzah! was a success ! Great turn out , a lot of great looking games and a fun time. I'm looking forward to it next year but right now I'm focused on Historicon in just a few weeks.