Historicon 2007, Lancaster,PA
Good God, my memory is slipping cause I barely remember going to con, save this game. This might be time we went down for the weekend with my wife and mother in law and stayed at a totally disgusting Comfort Inn, but none of the other pictures of the game ring a bell anymore. I think this is the con where I learned All the King's Men, but again, five Historicons in a row and I'm losing track.
Anyway, I must have had a good time, because by Saturday night Brian Nichols and I were exhausted. Looking through the con book, only game seemed silly and simple enough to get arounnd our exhausted little minds: Gnome Wars. How bad could it be?
They had shoved the game into some back room of the Host that I've never been to before or since, and we caught off guard at two things:
(1) Two kids under ten were the only other players for the game. No problem, if we keep the game going and the kids stay entertained it should be a hoot.
(2) The entire battlefield was edible!
Trees made out of cotton candy, cinnamon sticks and fig newtons! Walls made out of cupcakes! A river of Fruit by the Foot! Barbed wire made up of pretzels and marshmallows! Even the barricades and bridges were made of graham crackers. And the centerpiece of the battlefield was a castle cake!We each teamed up with kid for some battle between the invading Highlander/British Teddy Bear forces, and the defending Sikhs/Germans.
Teddy Bears Marching to Their Doom!The rules were basic Gnome Wars, with one delicious exception: regular artillery fire was replaced with a version HG Wells would have loved for Little Wars. We fired mini-marshmallows off of a plastic spoon. Whatever we hit, friend or foe, was removed. If we hit "terrain" we could eat it!
Damage From Artillery Fire
Results were fuzzy, but I remember my Germans holding off the bulk of the invaders and the Sikhs dying to a man but holding off their attackers. The best part were the GMs, who insisted that for reinforcements, healing, etc, we provide a gnome-appropriate pun.
For most players, it got tough after the second or third round. Me?
I hit a gnome run everytime.
It's games like this that make me want to use the teddy bears, frogs, and gnomes in less historical and more fun settings!
Candyland is coming to Miss Maja in a few days from the old fat guy... This will be fun.
No, not me... Santa!
I love the idea of edible terrain. I also love Teddy bears. Were they hand made figures? If not, where on earth did you get them?
ReplyDeleteCharlie Bear