Man down... OR How I survived CincyCon

Well my friends and associates,

As you all know I was painting Samurai at the last minute for a convention called CincyCon a few weeks back and was successful at finishing them up in time to take them along.

When the day arrived to leave I promptly collected all the things I needed (you know like miniatures and the important things, who needs extra clothes and their toothbrush) and started the journey down (four hour drive) the day before the convention began, beating by the way another few inches of snow. BUT the drive was horrid, even though I was staying just ahead of the changing weather from rain to snow, I literally drove in a torrential down pour the entire way, but at least I wasn't on icy - snow - slushy crap.

The real reason I go to this convention is to meet up and have a weekend visiting my friend from Georgia. We started this about 5 years ago meeting in Lexington Kentucky. Which is almost the exact halfway point. The following year my friend offered to drive a little more and so we met by Cincinnati on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. Then we found out about CincyCon which is in Hamilton Ohio and our little meet became even closer to me, but further for my poor friend.  Yes our splitting of about a 9.5 hour drive between us went from about 5 hours and 30 minutes (for me), to 4 hours 10 minutes, and finally 4 hours to Hamilton. So my friend went from 4 hours, to 5 hours 30 minutes, and finally to Hamilton for a grand total of 6 hours and 30 minutes. Hamilton is closer to me but further West causing my friend to drive further North and West.

Now I ask you, is that not hardcore friendship! Of course these times are not counting in weather, an avalanche down in southern Tennessee mountains that forced him an hour more out of his way etc.   But this year it took him even longer because he developed a Sciatic Nerve problem in his lower back and left leg causing him to have to stop several times along the way to lay back in his seat as far as he could to rest for a bit.

Which brings me to our first "Man Down" situation. My poor buddy suffered this the entire weekend. Standing, sitting, laying down, didn't matter he was hurting. The drive up caused the condition to worsen, so my main concern all weekend was making sure that he was as comfortable as possible.

We got a couple of games in, got to chat and catch up, and even ran our convention game we were putting on, but wisely cancelled our second. We normally do a breakfast thing on the day we part but we cancelled that as well so he could get back as soon as possible. For the record he got back safe and sound.

On that note you will understand that I didn't get a chance to take to many pictures of other events going on or see too much of the dealer booths, but another friend down with us alerted me to the fact a booth was selling all there DC Batman stuff for half off! I was like, "WHAT"! Needless to say I scored big time on that and not seeing any of the other dealer booths didn't matter to me as much. I took home 400 plus dollars worth of Batman miniatures for the low cost of 190 bucks. So I was all smiles on the way home.

Now before I finish this awesome story I have told you, it doesn't stop here. This is where we come to our second "Man Down" situation. Upon arriving home several hours later I wasn't feeling so good. So not feeling good that I had to run to the commode several times that evening and I was off my feet the rest of the week. So I caught something from someone down there and I wasn't too happy about that. So my flu racked and beaten down butt has survived and I am only now catching up to post some glorious photos of what I did take. So if you've read this far cool, here comes the eye candy.

The following couple of photos are from my game with my friend. A good refresher on our Samurai battle boards for Saga which helped us be frosty for running the game for convention attendees that signed up the following day. It was a close run battle and my friend had his foot on my neck until the last turn and I pulled out a narrow victory.

[above a view of my Takeda battle line]

 

[above a view of Oda's battle line]

 [The armies approach]

[closer look at Takeda's Red Devils]

While my friend and I were gaming, not too far away at another table two other friends of mine where playing in a Renaissance Galley battle game. This game was run by Richard Smethurst with what I believe were home grown rules called "Cross and Crescent" using 15mm miniatures.

[above a nice terrain piece he laid out for a touch of spice]

 [The Venetians arrayed for boarding]

[The Turks unafraid row forward with zeal]

 [The light in this hall did not cooperate with photo taking so I tried a flash to show the galley in all it's splendor]

[the fleets close and the commanders shout orders to there tiny men] 

[initial volley with guns before closing to board]

A game being set up (called "Battle of Wilson's Creek) for later in that day was an American Civil War game in 15mm. It was run by Alex MacDonald using a custom made 3D board created with input from the Wilson's Creek Battlefield park rangers, and includes models of the actual buildings present at the battle. Rules used were Black Powder. I have a friend at home that is really into American Civil war so I took pictures of this for him.

On Saturday my friend and I setup and ran our game called "Saga Samurai" with our home brewed battle boards. We had four players that had not only interest in the Samurai period but in the Saga rules themselves. The Battle began with Oda side shooting down or wearing down the Takeda Cavalry and were winning until the very last turn. Somehow the Oda team managed to lose both their Warlords causing a big swing in points and went from an assured victory to a draw. They all said they enjoyed the game, and I truly hoped they did. It was fun to put on.

[above the Takeda battle line on right after receiving a volley of arrows from Oda on left]

 [same shot as above from rear]

 [Takeda right flank surges forward with infantry and tries a flanking maneuver with Cavalry. With battle board abilities and being a skirmish game, new players always fall into this trap about flanks and rear sort of stuff. With all around facing, it's the battle board abilities that mean everything. Once this team member in Takeda group realized that he brought his cavalry back to support the infantry]

[above the Takeda left flank commander launches a cavalry charge straight into the teeth of Oda's arquebus and took a beating]

While our game was going on a couple of my other friends were involved in a game called "Smokin' Some Cubans", a game pitting the Angolans and Cubans against South African army and UNITA guerrillas. This was a 25mm game run by Mike Demana and using the rules "Wars of Insurgency". I only got two shots as I was busy running my own game. 

Lastly what would a convention be like without the Star Wars of some sort making an appearance. Always popular with the youngster's dreaming of visions of glory waving around their light sabres. This game was cool looking and run by Ryan Smethurst who did the Galley game the day before. He used an adaption of the rules "Sword and the Flame". It looked like they were having fun at it so the adaption must have worked out well. 

 [above what you don't want to see coming at you from the rebel trenches]

 [steady boys we got this]

[OMG we are being lead by an eight year old! Run for your lives men!]

Of course I am just kidding about the eight year old, but he looks very serious, I would not want to face this yoda sized commander.

Well my friend survived, I survived getting the flu, and I am actually feeling like painting once more. So thanks for looking and reading and I hope you all have a great day.

Cheers

Kevin