Cold Wars 2011 Part Four: Analysis and Swag

Part four includes all the things that I failed to mention in parts 1-3. It may be mammoth. Grab a drink and a snack, cause this might take awhile.


*First off, the picture of Tri-corner hats and DaVinci machines was a G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. game set in the Age of Franklin, Benjamin, that is. The British apparently had an earlier Industrial Revolution and are descendng onto the colonies via Canada. The Colonists turn to their resident scientist, and good ol' Ben throws together some weapons using electricity and harmonics. Really cool stuff


*SWAG --I didn't get a tremendous ammount of swag, although it was varied.

• All the King's Men -- The Indians Plastic set #2
• I snagged up a pint o' bases for 10 bucks. Not enough round ones for skirmish games and way too many for fantasy minis. I guess I will be working on the "Box of No-Nos"
• WarStore -- one of their train layout green battlemats. Explantion will be detailed below.
• I tried to snag up some zap-a-gap and Howard Hues paint, but the HH racks looked like someone put diamonds in the jars, and I never got back to them. The zap-a-gap was obtained and has been active already.
• Brigade Games - The GW Scottish Golf Mortar from part one, another Skirmish Elite book, this time Rommel's actions during Verdun, one pack of German Schutztruppe in Sun Helmets, and a packet of Schutztruppe Askaris. I figured if Tanga is a reality, I might as well start the "historical" version of the campaign. All figs are already based and a after reading the Skirmish Elite, I have another mega-campaign to plan post-Tanga. I also saw a book covering the Sikh Wars, although that may be my Historicon purchase.
• Eureka - a pack of the basic Mouse Warriors. Not as fancy as the Reaper mouselings, but very utilitarian as standard troops.
• My search for terrain discovered either horribly overpriced and horribly produced items. Seriously, I know I need to order palm trees from a cake supply business, but don't have the audacity to sell ten of them in a bag for $10, when I can get them for $20 per 100-count.

*Site -- If there's one thing I prefer about Historicon than Cold Wars being at the Host, it's the outside food stand in between the the Host and the Tennis Barn. After spending a few seconds more than forever in line at the sandwich vendor right outside the ballroom, I want better choices, and the hamburger/bbq/brisket never did me wrong. Granted, I wouldn't want to be the poor guy stuck outside all day in the second week of March, but that was the one station I trusted. As a positive note, the snack stand next to the Battletech room sold a dozen wings for $6.00! The sauce wasn't the greatest, and they were ungodly messy, but they were HUGE! The bathrooms were passable each time I used them, and the gamer funk was relegated to a few select spots in the smaller rooms. I'm also a bit disappointed that I missed the painting classes, which were stowed upstairs. The tent would be a bit chilly, but it slapped me upside the head and said, "Go paint a mini, you big dummy!"

*HMGS - Politics -- I KNOW I've been reading too much TMP (http://www.theminiaturespage.com/) if I'm going to comment about it on this blog. I stand by "I'm okay, you're okay" analsysis of HMGS without further comment, but some people truly can not have a happy day without a Chicken Little episode. Income is down, expenses up, and attendance sinking. Of course it has nothing to do with poor business planning, pipe dreams, and poor weekend availibility for convention weekends? That Fall-In only had a 10-15% drop in attendance ON HALLOWEEN WEEKEND is a miracle!

Of course, there is a contingent that wishes to slash all expenses away like the Russians retreating from an enemy. They want to lower admissions/dealer prices for cons and run it as no frills as possible.

Sorry, I'm not packing up my stuff and getting a hotel room for no-frills con. That's what local one days are, and the ones that last have more organizational expenses than the current renegade cohort suggests. Seriously, suggestions on how to cut con expenses would barely work at a one day con at Legion Hall with thirty people much less an HMGS. The coffers are sizeable, let us not stash the money, but let's not waste it all.


And having been an attendant to the cons the group's leader put together, if that's a qualification to be a member of the board, then I should be nominated for President-for-Life. Pocon makes CoveCon look like GenCon. Hell, it rivals WhatCon!

Oh, and by the way, Teddy Roosevelt would spin in his grave if he heard the current faction use his "Bullmoose Party" name for their purposes. In modern terms they are Wargaming Tea Party members who wouldn't make it through the term, if they unfortunately got elected.

And I'm sorry I'm insulting the original Boston Tea Party members with that reference, even if they were drunken thugs.


*Guests of Honor - One of the sticking points the anti-board members have is the expenditure to bring in special guests or productions. Now, I do believe I got a piece of cake at the 25th anniversary and I had a blast at the Duke's Diamond Jubilee, but I've never attended a lecture or event for a special guest/guest of honor. And you know what? I don't mind. I must admit complete ignorance about who Rifleman Harris is, but he certainly seemed well-received.


Now, if the convention asked for a donation to attend a meet-and-greet or other special event, I don't have a problem. If the con staff thinks special guests are needed, I'm not going to mind seeing a buck from registration going towards that...


*Historicon - And finally, the big announcement. For Historicon, I'll be running A Very Gnomish Civil War! at 10am Saturday. I talked it over with "The Gnome Guy" Jim Stanton, and the only things stopping the game from being a complete success are two little girls, a family life, and picking out a paint scheme for a certain special unit.


Next up: Some reviews of the Cold Wars swag....