Battlefields 2018... A Pro or Con club convention

Well our club (Pro of Con) put on it's first one day convention (of two the club runs) of the year, and we had pretty good turn out considering it was St. Patrick's Day, Cold Wars (a big convention), and Hotlead (a Canadian convention, which our club usually attends but I think we were stuck with date conflicts) all happening on this same day.

We used a internet company called TableTop events for the first time, to help facilitate some of the administrative work, and I have to tell you I think it was a MAJOR improvement for our little convention in the ability to preregister for the day and be able to sign up for a game you would like to play without having to rush to a table to put your name on a sign up sheet. I believe Game master's being able to book their games this way was a big improvement.

Also behind the scenes, I would like to send out a special thanks to the Circus Master Rob Gendron, who I believe makes this event run like a Swiss clock.

At the convention I saw the usual acquaintances and a few new ones, and more importantly I saw a gentlemen named Ron Carson who I haven't seen in like 25 years. Memories flooded back of some excellent ECW games etc. This got me to thinking. Being at the end of the baby boomer generation I realized our (or should I say my community of peeps) isn't getting any younger. I've always wondered whether I would continue gaming as I grow older or retire from gaming. My vision isn't what it was when I first started painting for instance, and through the magic of reading glasses etc. I have been able to extend that love. But would I still have the desire to game later in my life. I think, sadly, as we lose friends and our lives change around us that seeing some of the older gentlemen still carrying on my answer is yes. I may do it differently, gaming less, or focusing on a few special events a year to bring out my toys, but there is a future, and I can relax a little seeing that the wonder of life only ceases when we draw our last breath.

Enough of me psychoanalyzing and on to the cool part of what went down at the convention.

The first game I played was put on by the infamous John Thull who is an awesome scratch building fool, who is handy with a brush as well (Click here and scroll down to see the stages of how he built the Fort). He put on an eye popping game called "Siege of Castillo de San Marcos". Using the rules Pikemen's Lament, he claims (and I believe rightly so) that this is the largest game of Pikemen's Lament to hit a convention. He allowed me to have first choice of forces, and this probably because he owes me a large sum of money (just kidding of course). I picked the British and I had a blast. One player had to be the Fortress commander who had to crawl under the table and come up through the Fort to command the Spanish. He tried to talk me into to it, but we (yes, me in the royal sense) don't do that. I had fun and the Fort was really impressive to see in person.

My assault parties made it to the top of the wall, but the Indians on the otherside of the Fort where routed, and the Pirates attacking the town in front of the Fort where replused. With all eyes on me, and the impending counter attack coming, it was all she wrote. Still I MADE IT TO THE TOP OF THE WALLS my peeps!!!

While this game was being set up I was able to take a picture of a couple of other interesting games that were being set up.

First up was a game called "Roman Circus Chariot Racing". Game was hosted by Michael Konwinski and was a work of passion that rivaled Mr. Thull's Seige game. What was impressive to me was the fact he painted hundreds if not thousands of little tiny spectators which really gave you the feel of being in the movie "Night at the Museum". Really, you could just hear the roar of little people.

Amazing! Yes?

Second was a cool looking game called "Death Rides the Sky: A Pulp Alley Adventure". One day I will sit down and play one of these games. Oh, and the game was hosted by Michael O'Brien (Why he was not at a St. Patty's day celebration somewhere shows you how hardcore a gamer he is). The premise being you had to fend off waves of Pterosaurs and cavemen to find a hidden treasure. Indiana Jones like.

The above games were all going on in the morning session. The afternoon session that started at 2 PM had me playing in my second and final game of the day.

The game was run by a well known author of rule sets like "Age of Reason", Age of Discovery", etc., Tod Kershner. He is writing a rule set now called "Go Strong into the Desert", which coincidentally was the name of the game he was hosting. It's about the British during the Victorian age, and their campaign going into the Sudan. A really good book that he highly recommends and where I believe why he named his game so, is also called "Go Strong into the Desert: The Mahdist Uprising in Sudan 1881 - 84", by Lt. Col Mike Snook. I looked over his copy at the convention and when I arrived home immeaditly ordered a copy. Yes it was that interesting and has some awesome color plates.

We had six players playing in the game, and it was a good age mix. The young fellows brought their youthful exuberance to the table and it was fun seeing them get into it. It made my gaming experience that much better.

Basically what we have going on in the pictures below are two large British squares, supporting each other with gatling guns, and cannon on the corners trying their best not to be over run by the Mahdist Fuzzy-Wuzzy (a term used by British colonial soldiers for the 19th century Beja warriors supporting the Sudanese Mahdi) players. I think you'll find that Tod did an excellent job in painting all these figures and put on a good looking game.

Tod used an oval based, home made, clicker counter to track causalities. While I am not convinced there is not a better way, they were unique in my opinion and did the job quite well.

Of course I had to be one of the Fuzzy-Wuzzy players. Who doesn't like an underdog? We ended up breaking both squares so our team walked away with a victory. More importantly fun was had by all.

My conclusion about this convention and all that happened during the day.... I went home with a smile on my face.

Cheers
Kevin