Cold Wars 2020 AAR - Pandemic Edition

"That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane.  Lenny Bruce is not afraid..."

Okay, it might not be the end of the world as we know it, but with COVID-19 ravaging part of the planet and terrifying many others it was the Pandemic Edition of Cold Wars at the Wyndham (Formerly HOST) Resort in Lancaster, PA.

My plan was simple enough:  Help out with the Teachers Program Thursday and Friday and come back home with no new viruses.

After the kids jumped on the bus, I jumped in the car and headed down.

The front is finally finished, and parking has changed... but thanks to Corona, it was a non-issue.

I've never gone down on a Thursday before, and I was just amused to see all the fabulous volunteers trying to get everything together.  With no rogue high schools showing up for the field trip offer from the Teachers Program, I quickly dashed over to Target for a few supplies.

The upper entrance to the dealer hall was closed due to construction.  The Wyndham looks like it will connect to the Outlets access road "Someday."

Toilet Paper?  Not needed but available.
Medication?  A veritable wastleland.
Lamps?  Completely wiped out.  I guess people didn't want to be living in the dark for two weeks.

I came back, wandered around a bit, and finally picked up my badge.  The old Host is gone, replaced by a shiny and new chain hotel whose skin is covering the old frame.  Almost everything is new and perfect.

One casualty of the renovation was the ballroom.  Gone was the old "Distelfink," replaced by the more wedding-friendly "Lancaster Ballroom."

The HAWKs room, pre-HAWKs arrival

The biggest early surprise was the completion of the Lampeter room (the old tournament/flea market area).  The floor was complete, registration expanded its footprint, and the rest of the area would be dedicated to gaming space.  The old Distelfink was divyed up between gaming space and the flea market "Wally's Basement."  With better lighting and much easier loading/unloading, I think HMGS was throwing the flea marketers a bone after years in the dark and dingy theatre.

Registration

I met up with friends, grabbed dinner, checked into my room, and jumped in the Battle of Crécy using a light version of Tactica.

How can the French lose????

Afterward, we partook in some spirts, and past that, we closed out Thursday with a raucous game of Squig Hoppers.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition, but Pandemic will be played at 10 tomorrow morning. 

Friday morning I grabbed a late breakfast and skipped Hobby U for the first time ever in favor of waltzing down the hill to the dealers' hall.

The old Tennis Barn cleans up real good, even if construction blocked the far more convenient upper entrance.  On top of that, the overly pleasant weather mixed with the new side entrance meant that air flow was a little stagnant in some spots, and downright hot in others.

I had some time before my event, so I joined up with the Raybox Games demonstrators for a game of Legions of Steel.   As an old-school demonstrator myself 25 years ago, and an inactive playtester of the 2nd edition of the rules (Kickstarter coming soon), it was fun to sit down, see how much I remembered, and try not to kill off my UNE Commandoes.  

It was closer than I wanted, with this old vet of the game pulling out all the stops to survive with one figure running off the board.

After the game of L.O.S. I dashed over to the H.A.W.K.s. room for a presentation/playtest/demo of the Wars of Ozz game (coming soon!)

 As someone who actively looks at options for Wizard of Oz figures, this series, produced by Blue Moon, fills the niche nicely, although I didn't see any troops armed with knitting needles.

Finally, it was time to run the thrice a year Gnome Joust.  With attendees at a premium, we still managed to run a joust for twenty players!

 No bounties, and only a few jousters unhorsed who weren't named ViscountEric, but congrats to Rick Sr for a tremendous victory!

 We moved back downstairs to peruse Wally's Basement.  Outside of the random column or two in the aisles, the lighting was good, access was good, and deals were being down.

 The flea market was the first time I noticed a significant drop in gamer hygiene.  No, I don't mean people weren't washing hands or using hand sanitizer.  There were a few significant cases of gamer stench emanating from the masses, enough to make me not pursue one particular deal.

Shower and deoderant people!

More of the "Award Winning" Wars of Ozz game.

 I wandered back down to Lampeter for a few more games of Squig Hoppers.

 And I won by *this* much...

 Saturday, I wandered around the dealer hall and Wally's (not much in particular), and was more amazed by a strange phenomenon occurring.

People were showing up! 

With neighboring states already hip-deep in states of emergency and schools closing left and right, everyone was worried that once Governor Wolf got his act together, the con would need to shut down.

Instead of some sort of uniform presence on Saturday, I watched a light but steady stream of families coming through registration.   A little ray of hope before we're all stuck in our homes in some capacity for the next two weeks.

THE SITE:  After years of decay and year of renovations, the Wyndham looks like a quality establishment (even if we aren't coming back for a looong time.).  I found a few particular flaws with some renovations, it's such a vast improvement compared to a decade, I won't bring them up.

Bar Service (and stock) was improved from last year, and while the traditional menu seemed overpriced, I have no remorse from spending seven bucks for a pulled pork sandwich and a coke.  

LODGING:  This was the first con I stayed on-site on this property since the Halloween weekend snowstorm from Fall-In! 2011. The rooms are spectacular. Clean sheets, good plumbing, and working HVAC gave everyone a good night's sleep. We didn't have mold, but we did have an odd side room still under construction. It did not affect our experience. I did suffer through "unsecure" free wi-fi, so I could only check my e-mail and nothing else, but when I checked, 93 of them had the subject "Coronavirus."

DEALERS/FLEA MARKET:  The smaller, brighter flea market made things awfully convenient.  Our aging population spills over to the dealers, and five of them canceled.  The holes in the hall were a bit disconcerting, and the crowds were small, but those down there were spending money.  Again, following my rant after Fall-In!, if I had ordered my specialized stuff from the vendors and arranged pick-up for Cold Wars, I would have more swag in my hands.  A lot from my wantlist was unavailable due to canceling vendors or limited booth space.  It happens.

EVENTS:  Lots of cancellations, but I'd like to see the pre-con cancellations compared to the board after Saturday night.   I heard a number of stories of one player, one GM games that were ultimately scrapped, but most of the games I saw in the Distelfink, Lampeter, and the club rooms had plenty of players.  The split between games in Distelfink and Lampeter did create an empty feeling in both rooms.  Plus, in hindsight, there should have only been seven rows of tables in Lampeter, not nine.

Hobby University:  Between the cancelations, Corona fears, and the chance to partake in a fun activity, Hobby U was jumping most times I poked my head in. 

On a similar subject, the Board Game Library found a space in the "Old Battletech Room," which had the best air conditioning in the entire building.  I actively told a few folks/families on Saturday to check out the Library after they hit the dealers hall.

Take Me Down to Ocean City:  It's a bit sad that the last con at the "Host" will go out with a whimper, rather than a bang.  Next year's Cold Wars is moving to Ocean City, Maryland in mid-April.  Moving the con into my kids' AAU schedule will be disconcerting, but less so compared to Fall-In! moving right into my busiest weekend of the years.  Oh well... I'll figure out what can be done...

MY PLUNDER:  Two Kickstarters ending next week put a hamper on my buying spree (plus see my comments above about my unfulfilled want list.)

• The con swag bag with a beer cozy, hand sanitizer, and a fridge magnet for Ocean City was nice.  My kids use the old bags all the time
• 2x MDF houses 
• 10x Post Apocalyptic characters figs.
• 8x  Back of Beyond figures, including the Mad Baron himself, for an RPG scenario.
• Old Glory Pancho Villa - US Personalities set, also for an RPG scenario.
• Old Glory Siwash the Fighting Marine Duck Vignette promo
• 11x Brigade Colonials. 
• A whole pile of "illegal" Koplow Panda Dice.
• 1x Legions of Steel promo Nightmare and the latest copy of the 2nd edition playtest rules...

Given the circumstances, HMGS decided wisely to let the show go on, and most, if not all, of the regular attendees with health issues stayed home.  Our group had a good time and spent some money.  Here's hoping the Saturday day-trippers did as well.  Let's be honest, I probably had a higher chance of contracting something at Golden Corral or Target.

Here's hoping in the next two weeks (I still have to go to work), that I can get some work done on the figures on the painting bench.