2026 CLUB OPEN GAME DAY: THAT'S A WRAP

 

Doors Open and Welcome Sign Posted

Greetings, dear reader(s). As promised, this is a follow up from the previous post on  our club open game day.  This will be but a modest report on the subsequent goings-on--a virtual "ride along" for the reader. As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX.  

Setting Up

Early on, the morning session game hosts setting up...

(Above left) Earl and his Muskets and Tomahawks 2 French and Indian War skirmish; (Above right) Michael and his War at Sea WWII Battleship clash. 

(Above left) AJ setting up his Electronic Brigadier game (American Civil War); (Above right) my 6mm Baroque Battles  Thirty Years War game ready to go (didn't take any selfies, so only pix of my game--probably best).

Coffee and doughnuts set-up: now we're ready to go. 

Morning Session

Phil (in blue vest) welcoming players and kicking off the festivities. 

Michael's Game

AJ's Game

My Game

Afternoon Session

Lunch arrives and everyone fuels up ahead of the second round of gaming. 

Ralph's Hannibal At the Gates ancients game: setting up and in play. 

Michael setting up and running his Another Glorious Day in the Corps sci fi game. We had a cancellation, so Michael stepped up to run this second game in the afternoon session. 

Byron's Taiping Rebellion Brother Against Brother game. 

Summary

The afternoon session under way. 

Although the attendance this year was lighter than last, there were still enough players to float all the games in both sessions.  We had a good mix of club members, guests, and several "at large" gamers who found out about the day from flyers or social media. All in all, it was another fine day out; spending time with friends, meeting new people, and playing with toy soldiers. 

Excelsior!

CLUB OPEN GAME DAY 2026 COMING UP

 

Last Year's Club Open Game Day

Greetings, dear reader(s). Although blogging has been lagging, there has been hobby action 'round here, so I thought I'd pop in to give a small update.  Once again, our club will be holding an Open Game Day (Saturday, Oct 24). These are distinct from our club "Game Day" events, which are just for members--where we put on big games that can't be done on game nights: the last of these was our Mongol Invasion of Hungary game.  Unlike the Mongol Game Day, I am not among the main organizers of our upcoming Open Game Day, but I have been busy providing supporting assistance to the organizers as well as preparing to host a game. 

You may be wondering what an Open Game Day might consist of, and I'm glad you asked!  It is, as the name suggests, a one-day "convention," consisting of a morning and an afternoon session of participation games (four in each).  We'll also be providing lunch onsite so nobody has to go out (more time for games!). Here is the lineup for 2026 (click for BIG PIX--hopefully, the image will resize to be read-able):

AM Session

PM Session

I'll be running my Baroque Battles Battle of Rocroi game. 

As the above image shows, I've run this game before, in playtest at my house and on a club game night (pictured above), so it has been well proofed and I am practiced at running it. This should provide for a smooth event (although I may still find a way to gum it up!).  Despite being a re-run game for our club,  it will be new to non-club members, who are the focus of the open gameday--and it is a novel game system for a novel period (6mm, gridded, Thirty Years War). In this way, it will also contribute to the range of games on show, both in scale and period: one of the aims of our open game days is to showcase historical miniatures gaming for those who may not be familiar with it (aside from the over-riding objective, of course, of having a fine day out playing with toy soldiers and meeting new people). 

Rocroi miniatures and other game parts sorted and ready to go. It will all fit nicely into a tub--easy to shift, set up, and take down, an advantage of 6mm gaming. Big fun in small spaces. 

If you're reading this and are in the Northern New England area, feel free to drop in. We'll be at the Best Western Hotel, Portsmouth New Hampshire (At the Portsmouth Traffic Circle). Start time 9:00 a.m.

Excelsior!

OTHER PEOPLE'S CHOCOLATE BOX WARS

 

A shot of the action, mid game: Americans to the left and Russians to the right. 

Greetings, dear reader(s). This is a bit of a delayed post relating a Chocolate Box Wars (henceforth abbreviated CBW) game that I facilitated for two friends. The point of the game (aside from the point of any game with toy soldiers) was to debut their new armies.  Yes, friends, in these parts the CBW fever continues in the wake of our tournament, so much so that fellows are building their own armies...

George (left) brought his newly finished Spanish-American era U.S. Army to the table, and pitted it against Earl's Crimean War Russian army. 

This was a "tournament style" game with each side putting together a force using the base CBW army list, and then proceeding with the "quick start" process of terrain placement and troop deployments. The terrain wound up being rather sparse, with a linear obstacle (two 6" wall segments) in the center of the table and some hills to the wings.  Both sides then maneuvered forward and the battle shook out into two lines having at each other (sounds dull, but there was more back and forth to it in the event).  I won't have a blow by blow description, but I thought I'd share some images of their CBW armies in action. As usual, in this post, you may clix pix for BIG PIX. 

George's Spanish American War U.S. CBW army. 

To generate the different troop types, George used sailors for his Veteran inf, U.S. infantry in the blue over khaki campaign uniforms for his line inf, dismounted cavalry troopers for light inf, cavalry in home service helmets as well as Spanish American type cavalry in the western hats (for his heavy and light cavalry). He also had a few other variable elements tossed in. I must say that I was very impressed at his inventiveness. I knew that, technically, my CBW system would support this option, but was not sure that all the figures existed to pull it off. It is a unique looking force, indeed, and well done!

Earl's Crimean War Russians

Earl didn't have quite the same challenge as George in finding figures to put together the Crimean Russians, but he did get some very nice variety in the army by mixing in different headgear and great coat colors to distinguish some troop types as well as to add color--along with the flags. The touches of color on top of the greatcoats really jump out and elevate the look of the army on the table. Another very well done collection. 

The Game

George's Sailors (in white) leading the assault on the Earl's Russians holding the wall, mid game. 

The game in sum: for the first few turns, both armies suffered the curse of the first outing--with each side exchanging a series of missed activations. However, things then got into a more "normal" range and after some back and forth in the middle of the table, Earl's Russians outlasted George's Americans and had the day. It was a good debut for these new CBW forces, and a good refresher on the rules ahead of a CBW tournament/campaign that we'll be having this autumn (when we'll no doubt see a rematch between these armies, among others).  

Excelsior!