The Cold Wars PEL is up!

The Cold Wars 2010 PEL (Preliminary Event Listing) is up!

First off, the Gnome Wars games we know and love are back after an absence at Fall-in!:

Gnome Wars: Verdun
F-368 - Fri. 1:00 PM and S-370 - Sat. 1:00 PM
The initial German artillery barrage pounded the French units in The Village of Champ. The remaining French troops, expecting another barrage before the German attack, left the town and took up defensive positions in the shell holes and a broken trench in front of the town and waited for the imminent assault.

Gnome Wars: The Village of Champ
S-371 - Sat. 8:00 PM
GM: Jim Stanton with Steven Stanton
The Germans attack Champ and try to smash the remaining Allied forces remaining there.

Mmmmmm.... Verdun....with the possibility of multiple French units. There were "rumors" of more Tanga games, but Verdun is an excellent second option.

Gnome Wars: The Joust
F-369 - Fri. 8:00 PM
Come and compete in the Gnome Wars Jousting Tournament! Rules will be taught and prizes given away. Double elimination - Quick, Easy, and Fun.

Somebody call Rosalie of the Rosary, Sir Bud, Sam I am, and the other jousters. SOMEBODY has to knock Jim down a notch or two...

Not a bad assemblage of games... still doesn't mean I get more than a 20% chance of showing up, given the new baby seems to be taking her merry old time.

The theme of this year's Cold Wars is South America - the Struggle for Independence. Revolutions, Civil Wars, European Shennanigans... an interesting subject with lots of variety and chances for land, sea, and even a little air combat. However, the theme is not one that is real popular, the History of Latin American isn't a point of focus in the American education system, and there aren't too many well-known manufacturers actively hawking their wares (I did mention Khurasan Miniatures releasing 15mm Chaco War figs here: http://gamingwiththegnomies.blogspot.com/2010/10/beavers-and-skunks-and-south-americans.html )

As of this initial PEL, there are only 12 theme games for the entire convention, the first ones waiting till 3pm on Friday (a Spanish-American Cuba Naval game and a Chilean Revolution one).
Of course, one battle or even a month during the Napoleonic Wars would result in many more entries, but a lack of variety that these 12 have. Let's hope, for the sake of the person who decided on the theme, that a few more entries come in...

On the non-gnome front there are a couple gems that pique my interest:

• The Lehmans are answering the call and running some War of 1812 games, using ATKMs figs and rules. Size does matter and 54mm is beautiful to behold...
• The Spanish-American War Naval theme game looks interesting.
• S-243 - Otjihinamaparero: The Threatened Flank (German South-West Africa, 1904) . This is the across the continent from Tanga, but these guys are putting together a nice book on the Hereros War (not Heroes, Hereros)... This certainly piques my interest.
• There is a nice 15mm Great Northern War game - Russians vs. Swedes!
• And of course, everything else that's always at a HMGS (east) con. (Aerodrome, BTech, the H.A.W.K.S. room...)

The War College is a bit sparse (2!), but both are worty topics worth a sit:

• The Venezuelan Crisis of 1902 10am Sat. - TR vs. the Kaiser!
• Historical Introduction To South American Independence
  Saturday 11:00:00 AM, 1 hr - No excuse to claims ignorance again!

Again, Cold Wars is March 11-13th at the Lancaster Host Resort in Lancaster, PA
The full PEL can be found here: http://www.coldwars.org/documents/CW2011%20Events%20%20rev1-%20PEL.pdf