Historicon 2022 - The Gnome Games aka "The Mormon Alamo"

Historicon 2022 was a big success when it came to gnomes.   Four Gnome Wars games, two additional games involving gnomes, and the annual Historicon Joust were all in the Preliminary Event List.   Heck, even the Nomes from Frank L. Baum's Oz books made an appearance during a Wars of Ozz game!

Thursday afternoon's Gnome Wars game (#1) was "The Station at the End of the Line."

With each nationality/unit having their own objective, as the train worked its way down.  There were also other objectives, such as cans of beer, maps, passports, and old tomes to preoccupy forces.  The Swiss were marching to the station from the near corner, the Germans mysteriously defended a barn, and a motley assortment of Sikhs, Irish, and Aussies found themselves in the middle of the town. 

Custom Aussie Infantry

Despite having no conflicting objectives, the Sikhs (at the encouragement of the Aussies) unloaded into the Irish, forcing them to flee.   The elephant added insult to injury, knocking down a windmill with an Irish up top, holding a beer.  The Leprechaun survived the fall somehow, but the falling wreckage killed to other Irish.

The Don Quixote of War Elephants.  

The Irish were outnumbered and outgunned, so it was a war of attrition as they desperately tried to cross the tracks.

As the train approached, the war elephant found a new target.  

A handful of Irish found themselves in the Aussie's campsite and uncovered a keg!

The war elephant derailed the back of the train, damaging the beer tanker, and knocking the Sikh tank for a loop.

The German's control of the farm confused most of the players, but their attentiveness thwarted a plot by a pack of wolves to eat whatever was inside the barn.

The winning unit in the game were the overtly subtle Pete's Pirates.  Avoiding most combat, they acquired the dropped spoils of war:  Two misplaced Irish pots of gold, one full keg of beer, and a few spare cans of beer for the festivities.

Pete's Pirates -- Victorious!

The first game was also a proper introduction for my Theocracy of Deseret Infantry, or more lovingly referred to as the Mormons.   A spiffy paint job on some Southern Gnomes, the Mormons are the perfect foil for my California Imperial Republican Guard.

A lone Mormon stops the train.  The Roman Catholic nun medic looks on with pained visage observing her heretical allies.

Thursday Night's Gnome Wars Game (#2) brought the train to the station, magically turned around, and awaited everyone's secret mission to fill it up and send it on its way.

This time, the Germans wanted to bring something out of the barn and onto the train, a column of Mormons and French hurried to the station.  And the Irish?  They just wanted double super-revenge on everyone. 

The French-led relief column wasn't much of a success, but it did help take out the war elephant, and hoisted Nomepoleon to ride the beast!

This time, the train started to leave... early, so the Germans release their "science experiment, which held the train in place.

Historians believe that in the midst of the decimation of the Mormon forces, some participant blurted out, "This is just like the Mormon Alamo," and that catch-phrase stuck for the rest of the weekend.

Props go out to young Abigail, who, with the help of her father, played a pretty solid game.  I mean, she did steal an elephant...

Friday's events for us included the "How to Make a Jousting Cloth",  "How to Run a Convention Event" seminar, and the Joust.  The only gnome-related game was "The Battle of  Yellowstone" 

The game tracks the US Cavalry's occupation and administration of Yellowstone National Park from 1886-1918.   

Of course, when we planned my game to share terrain and scenery with the Gnome Train Games, I forgot a green cloth, and a handful of trees would make it more identifiable.    I simply explained to my players that the park was suffering from a drought, why made this more believable when wildfires hit the park, usually during the second turn.

A very parch Yellowstone Park

A few more changes were made from the original concept.   The illegal sheep herders were replaced with cattle rustlers, and the the buffalo were replaced with  Easter chicks simply to attract attention to them.  In previous games, the buffalo blended in well with the terrain, and were never the focus of the hunters, rowdy campers, or even the wolf packs prowling the park.  Making them bright and fun attracted almost too much attention to them.  

This small herd of "buffalo" were driven into the hot springs, and their demise.  

I had picked up the Toxic Pools from Gale Force Nine after my last run of the game, and they filled a need in pinch.  They're on my painting queue for a proper paintjob, perhaps a swirly "oil-slick" pattern. 

While I didn't completely fill up (the game accommodates up to ten players).  The rowdy-entitled campers kept the US Cav busy with the three D's - Debauchery, Destruction, and Defecation. 

Yep, not only did they scare off the illegal mining operation, in the name of general mayhem, the camper's player declared, "I'm pooping in the mine."

That's giving the US Cav more work to do, plus adding a fourth D, "Disgusting."

Another figure on the tracks. 

The cattle rustler had a heck of a time controlling his animals, although many wandered off and ended up in the corral outside of town...

US Cavalry escorting Irish Rustlers off park lands.

Joust 

The Joust was 8pm Friday and had 20 participants. It should be noted, that no special figures were brought to be used by participants, so the normal assortment of Australian Kangaroos, Germans on Bunnies, and Union on Shetland Ponies were used.

With all the up-selling we do for the rules we use for the Joust, To Cry a Joust, I wonder how many pdf copies they sell on Wargames Valut. after an HMGS cons.

Special guest referee "Captain Alvarado" helped out with festivities

Like I mentioned in my full Historicon, I faced a bracket, and gave no quarter.    The first two rounds I unhorsed some poor child on the first pass and got all the way to the semis before I ran out of gas.

The winner of the Historicon 2022 Joust was Steve B, although there are horrible, untrue rumors that he was brought in as a ringer.

Saturday morning, I ran my second Yellowstone game.   I was a bit disappointed that only one player showed up, but young Zachary was so excited and energetic, that all those worries soon vanished.  He was very efficient with the cavalry, escorting potential cattle rustlers off  of the park lands three times.  In fact the "occupation" of the Yellowstone went so smoothly, that we set up an impromptu train heist, with a three way battle between the robbers, the town posse, and the cavalry that ended in sheer chaos.

For the "real" Saturday Gnome Wars games, the site of the action moved to the "Station in the Middle of the Line"

With the rail line cutting through the short side of the table, it was a mad dash for most to reach the station and complete their objective. 

With everyone else scrambling, the Mormons decided they needed to move out of their tent revival city, and move up to a barn revival on the German's farm. 

A Mormon Tent Revival

The Mormon Cav clear the station of ne'er do-wells.

The bloodshed between the Sikhs and the Irish was expected to come to a head for a third time, but in an act of treachery, the Irish waylaid the Germans waiting for the train.

This proved problematic as one of the German "Science Experiments" broke free from their train car.  

Germans desperately chasing their "Donnerreideschse"

The train tracks were covered in blood, animals running everywhere, and with the beer tanker destroyed, the Sikhs claimed a minor victory

But two Mormons were on the tracks and spied a very-important looking German, unconscious at the station.  

Senator Lon was worth access in the barn for their revival #MadeUpObjectives

The Saturday evening game was certain to be chaos, with extra Swiss, extra Aussies, Pirates, the returning French, and a first appearance of the con for the Highlanders, and the Sikhs and Irish starting across the tracks from one another.  

Oh yeah, the Mormons were fortified on the south side of the train station.  It wasn't a Spanish mission, but it would do for now.

As the train was stopped by a lone gnome and an Irish pot 'o gold on the tracks, the nationalities descended onto the train that stopped... just short of the station.

As the Irish clamored towards the beer car, to fill up their kegs, the Sikh War Elephant on the other side rammed the train car, not only knocking itself out in the process, but sending the tank tumbling onto the unsuspecting Irish, causing 70% casualties on the spot.

The science experiments were quickly dealt with, although the giant, sentient, hoppping pumpkin ended up exploding, taking a good swath of the village (and the Sikhs) with it.