MAYHEM CONVENTION

 

Gracie--having a rare quiet moment.

Greetings, dear reader.  Before I proceed with the subject of this post, I thought I'd mention that a new addition to the household, Gracie, a four month old puppy, has consumed much time and attention (and required much monitoring).  This, plus a few other bits of life business, have displaced time and energy available for blogging, although I have managed to continue lurking on other blogs (which I have continued to enjoy following,  even if my commenting has been light lately).  The good news is that there has been hobby activity, so there is a backlog of things to report upon--once things settle down into a more "mature" routine. So much for the real world. On to the convention report.

I recently attended a new small regional convention, Mayhem, that was run in Lebanon, New Hampshire April 21-23.  It was both well run and extremely well attended--in short, a success.  Plans for Mayhem '24 have been been announced and received with enthusiasm.  The convention successfully brought together a range gamers, from "alt" to historical, with an emphasis on miniatures, and had something for everyone (and in sufficient amounts to satisfy all). 

The Granite Mountain Ballroom during the first gaming session Friday afternoon, April 21. This was the space where most games were held.

The registration was speedy, offering merchandise as well as badging (above left). Registering for games was done online.  There was complimentary coffee service (above right) on Saturday--just the thing given that the first gaming session kicked off at 0800. 

The scene on Saturday at mid-day.  134 games were on the schedule and there were 250 gamers in attendance. Here in the US, convention games are all of the participation variety.  

Although hardly a Wargames Development Conference of Wargames counterpart, I was struck by the percentage of the games that were innovative modifications of other sets or "home brew" designs.  Here are a few that I noted. Apologies in advance: I didn't embark on a comprehensive logging of games, so what follows in general will be a smattering of what I captured and what I can recall. As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this report...

Above Left: A miniatures version of the GMT Manoevre game. Above Right: Napoleonic Domination, a home brew strategic game. 

A science fiction game using modular cubes for ships (or vehicles?) and a movement system similar to X-wing or other air games. 

A game called "Arena Battles" that used a variety of 4" toy soldiers, ranging from warriors to monsters, pitting them against each other gladiator-fashion. Given that I brought my toy knights to this con, I felt an affinity for their efforts (and we had a nice chat tableside at my game on Saturday evening). 

Far from a "graying of the hobby" scene; this convention crowd had players from all ages, with the majority in the pre-grognard demographic, to my eye.

As I have mentioned, it was an inclusive atmosphere, with a range of games,  many of them being very well presented. Here are a few shots--I didn't focus on recording and reporting while there, so understand that there were many, many more games than I captured images of (sorry, no specifics on these).

I must draw attention to one game in particular....

...a very smart-looking Bloody Big Battles Franco-Prussian War game...

...where they were using the player references that I had produced.  I was standing bye quietly as the game master was going through his explanation of the rules until I opened my big mouth to contribute to a point being made on movement. At which point all eyes turned towards me, not without a tinge of annoyance at the intrusion. To cover for my breach of etiquette, I mentioned that I was the perpetrator of the player reference sheets they all had in hand--couldn't help myself. This led to a bit of a stunned silence as they connected my name tag to the "Ed M" on the reference sheets. I was graciously offered a seat in the game. Needing to get ready to run my own game later, I thanked them and beat a tasteful retreat, leaving the game master to run the game in peace (and removing further temptation: "Get thee behind me, Kibbitzing."). 

Speaking of running games, my fellow club members were well represented among the game masters...

...Phil (standing in the blue vest) ran his Jericho Mills Fire and Fury game

...Michael B ran a Cruel Seas in the Med game...

...Robert (standing at the far end of the table), ran his 8-player Bautzen Napoleonic game twice (using another home grown set of rules, I should add--which have been extensively playtested and proofed by the grognards and die hards in our club)...

...and your humble correspondent debuted his Joust for the Fun of It game using the recently completed teams of big knights (and associated supporting bits). A big shout out goes to fellow club mates and friends AJ (of AJ's Wargaming Blog) who assisted me in running the game and Michael B (who earlier ran the Cruels Seas game) who played to help me out (the game is best played with an even number of players and Michael rounded it out to six). There will be more on the completion of this project in a later post. 

To round out this report, I will add another chapter in the ongoing saga of Hats and the Gamers Who Love Them...

The Trilby: the size of a derby but more Sinatra than Stan Laurel. 

Pith helmet and goggles: a touch of adventure with a minion vibe.

The jaunty blue beret; worn with just the right touch of insouciance.

The dew rag: not just for bad hair days any more.

Pikachu: elevating the baseball cap from the mundane to the picaresque.

Well, that concludes this tour of recent events 'round here. If not enjoyment, I hope it has at least provided a bit of distraction.

Excelsior!

GAME ROOM AND HOBBY SPACE

 

Game Room/Man Cave as seen from the entrance.

I've noticed that there has been a call (for lack of a better term) for bloggists to post on their gaming spaces.  Although teetering between being fashionably late and missing the party entirely, I thought I'd put up an update on the Meanderer's Mess, ie, my gaming space and hobby arrangements. The above picture is of the Mess in it's non-game configuration, with two standard banquet tables at the ready in the center for projects, impromptu games, putting things down, etc, etc. Continuing on from the above...

...the view along the right hand wall, where we see the all-important cube refrigerator, bookcase, and display cases...

...the large display case holds various and sundry collectibles and momentos. The bookcase houses a concentrated (post cull) reference library along with collections of rules and a selection of sentimental favorites from my old school hex and counter wargames and wargame magazines. In the organizer on top of the bookshelf, I keep all of my different types of dice and a handy selection of game markers (different colored pipe cleaners, stones, "gems", poker discs, etc, etc).  I also keep a ready selection of writing materials for players as well as a few game master tools, like a laser pointer and a laser line (to judge line of sight). Continuing on along the right wall..

...is the latest edition to the room: this display case.  Having completed my "big knight" project, I realized that these are on a scale unlike anything else I have, and as such required something other than my usual utilitarian box-on-a-shelf storage solution. Having admired many other gamers' displays, it occurred to me I could display this collection (taking inspiration from how action figure collectors display their collections). [Aside: I intend to have a post on the completion of my big knight project in the coming weeks.]

Along the back wall: I keep a few terrain items and other game support materials on the floor under the shelves. At the extreme right is a box containing my magnetized markers for various game systems as well as other game support materials. In the the shelves are my "active" collections: Thirty Years War/17th Century (in 28mm and 6mm), Colonials, and my post-Napoleonic 19th Century 28mm armies (Danes, Prussians, Austrians, Russians, Hungarians, and Romanians). The small cabinet at the left houses my Kriegspiel Block BBB collection and apparatus. I use the top of this long shelf as a handy set up area when running games. 

In the corner along the back wall I have a third (foldable) banquet table that I add to the others when I want to run a "full sized" game. The portfolio holds the maps for my BBB half scale Kriegspiel Block system. In the shelves behind the table and in the boxes on top of the shelf are my battle mats and table coverings. The black bag is for figure transport. 

A closer view of the military art along the back wall, a bit of atmosphere goes a long way (you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post for a closer view).  Continuing from the back wall along to the left side of the room heading back to the entrance...

...Top left, a shelf containing my "current use" rules systems, organized in boxes fthat contain the rules, reference sheets, scenarios, and any other game-specific dice or apparatus for each game system--so when running BBB, for instance, all I need to do is pull out the BBB box. I also keep my tape measures, dice trays, other game master aids, and toy coins here. Top Right, moving on to mid-room is a shelf with  my terrain stored underneath and the top used as a snack table (logistics are an important part of any game).  Continuing along the wall looking back at the entrance...

...Above Left: my reading chair (new floor lamp is on the way) and desk. Moving to the other side of the door (above Right), is my sword collection and antiquarian military books (shelved under the Saba German Radi0)--and a few more bits of art. 

The room configured for a four player game...

...I set up my game master stool at the end of the table (within handy reach of the shelf behind). I provide side tables for the players to help manage drinks, snacks, dice, player references, etc.  Moving on from the fashionable Meanderer's Mess to the "annex" spaces of hobby management here at Meanderer Central...

...the attic holds overflow and lesser used collections--above left, my 15mm Napoleonics and my 6mm League of Augsuburg collections; above right, my 28mm Napoleonics (Prussians, French, and Poles) 35 boxes in all. Bottom picture above: the attic also houses my board wargames (mostly of the hex and counter variety).  Going from the top of the house to the underworld annex...

...aka, the basement--I have boxed and stored my basing materials, flocking, and other tools of creation under the basement steps (being semi retired from painting, I pull stuff out only as needed)...

...which was the case with my recent foray into the big knight project, which did cause me to pull things out and put them on my work table (above left), which you see in its current state of chaos, post-project. Formerly dedicated as my painting area, thus table is now used as a workbench for the usual fix-it jobs associated with home ownership.  Above right: I still maintain my paints, varnishes, brushes, etc underneath the man-table--and it was a good thing, too, since I needed them to do my latest project.

Well, that concludes my tour and update.

Excelsior!

JOUST FOR THE FUN OF IT: BIG KNIGHTS WIP

 

Six player 28mm Joust for the Fun of It (JFTFOI) game at our recent Game Night

This post will be a modest update on the progress of upscaling my JFTFOI game from 28mm figures to 1/20 Schleich (mainly) toy knights.  But before moving on, here is an update on the state of the rules. I'm happy to report that I ran a successful six player game at our club's February game night. Four of the six had not played before, to include a visitor who was fairly new to miniatures gaming.  Everyone grasped the flow quickly and the game ran smoothly. In short, everything worked.  I made a few minor tweaks to the game aids based on my observations, but those are mainly cosmetic.  The game night allowed me to proof how I would pack, transport, set up, and run the game at a convention.  So I can now say that both the system and the logistics are "convention ready."  As usual in this post, you may clix pix for BIG PIX. 

So far, I've put together 4 out of 6 of the teams I need. In this post, I'll share the early stages of the project and the conversions.  As far as the guiding vision, I decided that I didn't want to redo these figs, but keep them as close to "stock" as possible, retaining their toy soldier qualities (and also capitalizing on the fact that they are ready-painted--ie, why work harder than necessary?). The main aim of any modifications would be to avoid redundancy between figures and to support the  unifying theme of each team. More on these aims will become evident in subsequent posts.  At start, I was confronted with the very basic problem of how I wanted to mount them. Although designed to stand on their own as toys, they were too wobbly for my likes.  I wanted them to be stable on the table (I like the sound of that), and for the riders and lances to be fixed rather than loose. In short, although toys, I want them to conform to the handling standards we've become accustomed to with our miniatures. 

After much measuring and testing, I settled on 2" x 5" bases.  I also decided on staining the bases rather than painting or flocking them. To get started,  I drilled a hole in the horse and inserted a 1/4" dowel (secured with my go to J B Kwik Weld). I thought that the dowel would be sufficient to support and stabilize the figure on the stand. Unfortunately, this solution lacked lateral stability. 

So I wound up pinning the hooves as well (using the old stand bye of clipping bits of paper clips).  I then drilled a blind hole in the base for the dowel and smaller holes for the hoof pins.  As such, each one of these bases requires a custom fit, so they wound up being rather time consuming.  So far, though, so good. I've done the bulk of them.  

This configuration works very well. The figures are nice and stable and I rather like the look of the stained bases. I found that Gorilla Glue Wood Glue does a good job of adhering the metal pins into the wooden base (and obviously works well for the wood on wood of the dowel). I pinned the riders into their seats and adhered both they and their lances using J B Kwik Weld--I tried super glue, but it wasn't as good given the mix of materials involved.  

Fellow bloggist and friend AJ (of AJ's Wargaming Blog) is one of several in our club who has embarked on 3D printing. He provided me with some custom shields as well as a set of parts for making lances...

...from which I put together jousting lances out of 3mm carbon fiber (at first 1/8" wooden dowels) with 3D printed hand guards and fists for tips . My teams will have a mix of the Schleich jousting lances and these.  Moving on, here are a few of the conversions...

For the Notable Knight on "Team Black" (right figure) I substituted the 3D printed tilting shield for the original one with the cross, adding the dragon head decal using inkjet slide decal paper. There will be a team (yet to be done) that I'm calling the  "Paladins" who will have a crusader and cross motif, so I decided to not also have this symbol on Team Black (who wound up having a unifying dragon motif).  The cross on the original knight is raised and part of the mold, so simply painting over it would not have worked, so I switched it out.   

For the Notable Knight on "Team Red," I mixed the horse from the above left figure and knight from the above right. I did so because they both have the single large fleur de lis symbol. I drilled out the hand on the knight and replaced the sword with the tilting lance. 

For my Notable Knight on "Team White" (it's a coincidence that these all are Notables), I started with this Blue Box knight wielding a mace. I had to cut off and pin his arm in a new position (above right), and then I drilled out his hand and gave him a jousting lance (repainted in the red/white combination).  I also touched up the red and white scroll on the helm, the white on his eagle crest, and added a bit of white trim detailing to the hanging bit on the back (not sure what that's called). 

The Team White Lord (a "stock" figure, left), next to the conversion Team White Notable Knight (right).

This was the most involved conversion. For my Notable Knight on "Team Green" I began with this figure (also a Blue Box figure).  I was not happy with the helm; it needed to be a bit more grand...

...I really liked the helm and hanging fabric on the back on this figure (a dismounted Blue Box knight). So I decided a head swap would be in order. However, I was not thrilled with the big dragon crest, it not being consistent with the other heraldry on the figure (the green lion rampant on the shield and horse) and also because Team Black Lord has a dragon motif.  So I lopped off the dragon crest. Still, something needed to go up there on that (now) big flat part on top...

...and I thought that the crest on this figure was not too big and not too small, jusssst right for what I needed.  So I took the crest (just the top part) off of this figure...

...and put it on the aforementioned flat spot on top of the new head, which I then put on the aforementioned headless knight...

...and I upgraded the flimsy lance with a more robust one (painted green), added a bit of green to the horse's caparison (at the neck and the rump), painted the feathers on the crest and the scroll yellow and green...and Bob's yer uncle, here is the Team Green Notable knight. I rather like the way he came out. 

Meanwhile, work continues on other figures.  I'm waiting on the arrival of another small consignment of figures in order to complete my last team. Watch for another post as things move forward.

Excelsior!