CLUB OPEN GAME DAY

 

Gamers  gathering and perusing the tables at the start of the Open Game Day.

Last Saturday (Oct 19), our club (The Northern Conspiracy) held it's first open game day. Our club is located in Northern New England, with members from New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont, and it meets once per month for a game night gaming session at a venue in New Hampshire. Once or twice per year, we hold a "Game Day" on a Saturday. These are usually big games or linked table campaigns that are all day affairs.  However, we sometimes run multiple smaller games on our game days--an extended version of our game nights that allow people to get in a full day of gaming.  This year, we decided to do some outreach and held an Open Game Day. Although we certainly were interested the usual--introducing our club to new prospective members--a major aim was to showcase historical miniatures gaming to the larger community of gamers. Towards these ends, we hosted a range of participation games, five in the morning and three in the afternoon. The idea was to have games that weren't too challenging in terms of rules, that would be in known/popular periods (like WWII), or that would demonstrate the visual appeal of other, lesser known periods, showcasing the range of options available in historical gaming. Here is a run down of the games (I ran my joust, which is the last in this report). As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX. 

Battle of Rhode Island, 28mm American War of Independence 

AJ (standing at the end of the table) briefing the players.

AJ ran his Electronic Brigadier American War of Independence Game with a full compliment of players. AJ's eBrigadier games have quite a following and are always a draw. He is working on expanding it beyond AWI in the future. 

Rome Vs Carthage, 28mm Ancients

Bob O seated at the end of the table

Bob O has put together a faster playing multiplayer variant of Command And Colors Ancients, complete with superb custom made cards and wooden trays to organize and hold them. He has put together a similar C&C variant for the Russo Turkish War. This game pitted a Carthaginian force under Hannibal's brother (Magon) against an equal sized Roman force under Varo trying to block him from linking up with Hannibal. 

Operation Epsom, 15mm World War Two

John M (yellow hat) getting players ready for his game.

John M ran a game of Blitzkrieg Commander set during the Normandy Breakout. John's specialty is World War Two (gaming and history), and his games are always appealing and fun to play. This one was no different.

Invasion of Norway, 1:1800 World War Two Naval 

One of our naval experts, Ross, put something on for the naval gamers using the elegantly simple War at Sea rules pitting a German force transporting troops for an invasion of Oslo against an intercepting allied force. Unfortunately, I only managed to get a few shots of this game during setup. 

The Battle of Carchemish, 650 BCE, 28mm Ancients

Ralph (blue vest) setting up.

This was (unfortunately) one of two games that I only managed to capture set up pictures for. Ralph and Charlie used Ralph's fast play "Hannibal at the Gates" ancients rules for the "anchor" game of the afternoon session, featuring a striking table festooned with clashing chariots and all the other colorful trappings that Babylonians, Medes, Scythians, and Egyptians bring.  Ralph's terrain pieces always add much to his games, and the feature of this one was this stunning aqueduct. 

V2 Rocket Heist, 28mm World War Two

Rob, cap at the end of the table, setting up his Iron Cross World War Two game. Again, I didn't capture any images of the game in progress, but the premise of it was an inventive mix of "adventure" and history, with Polish partisans, Home Army, and British Paras trying to capture a crashed V2 rocket and smuggle components of it out for analysis. The V2 models on the table were quite arresting (Rob is among our club's 3D printers, and creates lots of interesting materials for his and other people's games, the V2 rockets on this table being among them). 

Jousting, 28mm Medieval

Your humble correspondent (standing in black and white club shirt) briefing players during the morning joust. 

My contribution was to ran my Joust for the Fun of It game.  I ran this twice, once in the morning session and once in the afternoon. I had four players in the morning and six in the afternoon, a mix of club members and guests in both. So in my game alone there were ten players for the day. One new thing I added was the "leader crown" (seen in the upper left picture). This is worn by the player who is in the lead after each match--a mixed honor since it also serves as a target, letting other players know who they need to take down a few pegs if the chance arises (great fun). 

Summary

Although I don't have the numbers, counting the two iterations of my game, attendance was such that it floated eight viable games, with something between 4 and 6 per table (I think AJ's E Brigadier game may have had 8). Attendance in the morning session was higher than the afternoon, but all games ran. Many among the guests were new to historical miniatures gaming, one who had been invited by a club member later told him, "I can't believe how much I liked that historical gaming!"  Of course, club members were in attendance as well and had a fine day out, too. It's always good to get together to game in the club, but it was also a great experience to meet others who came to play. We'll be reprising the open game day again next year. If you're in our neck of the woods, watch for it. 

Excelsior!

JULY GAME NIGHT: MORE BORSCHT AND GOULASH

The usual suspects assembling for the evening's festivities.

Recently, our club held its July game night.  Given the time of year, with summer vacations and the recent holiday, the turn out was (predictably) light. Nevertheless, there were still three games on tap and all were played, to include another round of my Chocolate Box Wars, reprising my Russians vs Hungarians game in order to roll out the system in a "public" forum in a multiplayer mode.  A bit more on that at the end of this post. There were other games in the room. As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post...

Phil put on an ancients game, "Eagles in the Valley," pitting Romans vs Gauls using the Hannibal at the Gates rules produced by our very own Ralph Gero. 

Given the light turnout, there were only two players at this table: Michael (standing) and John took part. But still, it's never a bad thing to belly up and play at toy soldiers. 

Rob Z hosted an Iron Cross WWII game, set during the Battle of Arracourt, 1944, pitting the US vs the Germans.

There were four players in this game, which was designed for 4-6, so things were on track. I didn't follow the action, but Rob runs a good game and based on the post-game chatter, a good time was had by all. 

Which now brings us 'round to my game. Pictured is your humble correspondent, mouth open (of course), briefing players at the start of the game.  The scenario was for four players, and that's how many were at the table (AJ, playing but not in the picture, took the photo, for those who like to count heads).

Left: AJ (black shirt) and Dave (baseball cap) took up the Russians, while (Right), Gordon (blue shirt) and Warren took up the Hungarians. AJ was the only one who had played the game before. He graciously came over from Rob's Iron Cross game to make a fourth for my game. For more about the scenario, I would direct you to the July 6 Post. 

The view from behind the Russian center prior to deployment. In addition to handing each player an OOB, I added these stand-up tents to identify the units and their key information (morale, any special attributes). They were pulled once the game began, but were very helpful for orienting players and setup, particularly for players not familiar with the era, the units, or the game system.

AJ would wind up matching vs Warren and Dave vs Gordon. General Dice was not with Dave this night (to say the least), and so the Russian effort suffered for it. 

Left: A shot of the table, mid battle, as seen from the end of the table on the Hungarian right/Russian left (Gordon and Dave). Right: The center as seen from behind the Hungarian line, mid battle. The Russian battery had been taken out by counterbattery early on (the gap in the Russian position on the hill at the top of the picture)--Dave would advance the Russian infantry and Gordon would push the Hungarian columns seen in the foreground forward and deploy them into line--and in the exchange, the Russians wound up getting the worst of it (did I mention General Dice?)

One new thing that happened in this game was cavalry-on-cavalry action. Above, the Hungarian hussars, in green with the blue shakos (run by Gordon), are about to finish off the Russian hussars (run by Dave). Despite this being an even affair, things did not go well for the Russians (did I mention that General Dice was not kind to Dave this night?).  There was a similar cavalry clash on the other end of the table between AJ and Warren (with a more even result). In short, the rules handled cavalry vs cavalry well, and so that aspect of the system has now been proofed, too.

Based on feedback from this game, I also added these inch indicators to my measuring sticks. I've found that time and energy invested in player aids and tools is well spent. 

I did gain some good lessons learned from the debut of the game system as a walk-up, participation style game (of the sort that might be run as an event at a US convention, or a future club game night).  Assuming no familiarity with the rules, four players is about as many as can be handled given a four hour time slot. The start of the game, in particular, was very slow going--and that has been the trend in all the playtests with new players. The rules are not complicated, but there is a learning curve involved.  I probably would shave down the number of units in the next game to move things along--maybe by having fewer on the table at start and then adding them as reinforcements as players pick up the system. Although the rules worked well (again), there were two or three points that came up during the game that called for some adjustment afterwards--consulting with my playtesters, I have made a few tweaks to address them. I am now shifting my focus to writing the rationale and supporting information. I'm on track to post the package by the end of August (fingers crossed).  In the meantime, I've got another playtest coming up with some new players in the next week. 

Excelsior!

FEBRUARY GAME NIGHT: SHIPS, SPEARS, AND PIKERS

 

Mike, this year's club president, desperately flapping his arms to either achieve lift off or make the usual announcements kicking off a Club Game Night (I forget which), and being received with the customary attention due club officers.

Greetings, dear reader(s).  This is just a quick (and belated) post on our club's February Game Night.  These shots all come courtesy of  fellow club member AJ (of AJ's Wargaming Blog).--who, despite having run his own game managed to take some photos (unlike me...).  But I figure a quick post is better than no post, so I'll proceed. As usual, in this post you may clix pix for BIG PIX.  Per our club norm, there were three games (the third of which was mine). 

GENERAL QUARTERS III 

Charlie (in blue vest) ran a General Quarters III early World War Two naval game after the Fall of France pitting the British, who are trying to keep the French fleet from falling into Axis hands, against the French fleet anchored in Algeria: the battle of Mers El Kabir. The outcome of this game will influence our upcoming April Game Day--also run by Charlie--which will be a big game on the invasion of Malta incorporating air, ground, and naval forces. 

CLASH OF SPEARS

AJ ran a Clash of  Spears game, pitting Carthaginians vs Romans. This set of rules is becoming popular in our group, thanks to AJ who has now run several of them. It expands ancients gaming to the skirmish level, and fits in with the current interest in skirmish-adjacent systems like the "Rampant" series, which cover other eras. Judging by the noise and and rowdiness coming from this part of the room, this was a rousing game. 

BAROQUE BATTLES

The third game of the night was mine, The Battle of Lutzen (1632), using my Baroque Battles system (a Pike and Shot game). I was very involved with running this game, and wound up not getting any shots.   Although we did not complete the game by the end of game night, it was clear that Gustavus and the Protestants were not going to be able to break Wallenstein and the Imperials: decision to the Imperials (Byron and Robert); well played to the Protestants (Warren, Mike, and Dave).  I'll be be running this game at the upcoming Mayhem convention on Friday night (full description here). Although I've run this game at conventions before, it's been awhile, so I used this game to refresh my mojo at setting up and facilitating it. 

I'll add a few more pictures and words on the game, as long as I'm on the subject. 

Some of the "off table" bits that are involved. Leaders (left) and tactics cards (right). 

A closer look at the units deployed at the start of another game (left) and some of the different unit types (right) involved. My figures are mostly Irregular, with a smattering of Heroics and Ros. All 6mm, in case you hadn't noticed...

...and although game systems employing small scale figures on gridded game tables are very much in the mainstream right now, I have to say that I have been running this system since before phones were "smart." I'm not sure if this means that I'm ahead of my time or just out of touch. I guess if you do something long enough, it will eventually come into fashion, even if it ain't "fashionable." 

Excelsior!