Wargaming Ikea-Style

Seriously, just how hard is it to get an affordable table that you can run RPG sessions, set-up moderate sized wargames, and occasionally use it to eat as a family?

Perhaps the biggest insult that COVID has forced upon us is not meeting face-to-face at my college roommate Steve's house.   Sure, he lost the bar/gaming area with his half-block move, but his dining room has a full-sized dining room set, perfect for 8+ with room.  Luckily we managed to christen it with a few card and board games during the last true SATLOF.  Here's hoping we can pull off another SATLOF this year.  

#RPGaDay2021 - Day 31 - Thanks All Around

The final day of #RPGaDay2021 is upon us, and it's not a stretch to believe that the last word would be "THANK."

So let's thank my current gaming group.  

To Steve, my old college roommate. He's the guy in the group who intentionally plays "fun" disruptive characters.  Echellon, the priest of the "Oriental" god of the sea (and pigeon fancier) and Fonzie Schlepprock (a chronic liar Gnome Titan in Hackmaster that successfully kept the ruse that he was a famous general... at least to the human communities) were my favorites.  With online gaming, his characters started serious (a dragonborn priest or paladin whose only schtick was throat singing for his prayers), but as much as I think his initial concept of his Star Wars character was frivolous, things have gotten dark over the weeks of #RPGaDay2021.   Not Dark Side Point worthy, just cutthroat business dark that I don't usually see from him.  His one legendary character away from my table was  Benverho, an "asshole wizard" in a different college group.  Thanks for making  Ne'vets Aharo in Star Wars  the "bad" version of Benverho, and making my scheduled turns in the campaign direction even more delectable. 

To Jim, the "Gnome King" himself.  Thanks for heeding the call when I reached out for new players for Monday night, even though you had never actually role-played before!  Tarrie Prolek is the perfect starter character, always referring to the boss cause he's "under contract", even if he isn't.   Your musical numbers are far superior to anything else in Star Wars since Max Reebo in 1983. 

To Sean, the brother of Steve's best friend.  You got lured into playing by your brother, and even with most of the original group gone, thankfully you've stuck it out.  We give both you and your Wookie, Frokazza, a hard time because you're part of the group, and thankfully, you know that.  Congrats on the new job!

To Hoyce, another college buddy. Prior to online gaming we've rarely had the chance to game together over the 15 years.  Thanks for actually missing the online Day of Sloth IOU game, but expressing enough interest and availability to join the Star Wars game full-time.  I don't know how the partied survived before your character arrived.  Seriously, statistically-speaking they should have all been dead weeks before.  I'm far too lenient as a GM.

To Maja, my daughter.  Thanks for bailing us out when we needed an extra player to push through the "Bo'Non'as and Oopsa" side campaign.  With such crazy schedules that we barely get time to game at home, it was nice to play something, even if you were still in your bedroom down the hall. 

To Chris, one of the original guys well before me in the Monday night session.  I barely knew you dude, but thanks for the memories.

To Jeff, the Godfather of the Monday night game, and original DM of the 5e game.  Thanks for getting this thing going, and thanks for all the hours you poured into the game.  Andaras was quirky enough to keep us permanently on our toes, and we left so many storylines wide open.  We're going to have to return, whenever you get your stuff screwing up Monday nights squared away.   It's your group.  I'll keep them coming until your ready, even if you have a few new players by that point. 

 

To Balls, another college buddy that, like Steve, I've been able to play with pretty consistently over the years.   Thanks for letting it slide that this little online shin-ding was occurring, thus securing that I"m never productive at home on a Monday night.   Like Jeff, your spot at the table, real and virtual, is always guaranteed.

The Basketball/Train Meet/Game Day is Complete!

I sit here at my computer, sipping on some late night Mountain Dew to offset the exhaustion enough to finish this up at get some sleep.  This has been one of the longest Train Show days ever. 

Usually, the goal of Train Show day is to wake the kids early Sunday morning, grab some breakfast at some diner that hasn't changed its look since the Ford Administration, and venture down to the ATMA Spring Thaw Train Meet in Allentown, PA, followed by me dropping the kids off at my Mom's while I do some gaming in my hometown of Easton. 

Due to scheduling, I agreed to change it to the Saturday this year, but Maja's basketball team made the championship game this year, to be played at 8:30am that morning. 

I was up before the break of dawn to get things ready and pick up a Dunkin' order (I heartily recommend the online ordering!) and sit with 150 people to watch 8 and 9-year old girl duke it out on the high school's hardwood. 

Maja's Hurricanes and her hated archrivals split all their games 2-2.  Unfortunately, their second loss was a 25-21 nailbiter this morning. 

Maja didn't have the phenomenal game she had last week, but while other teammates were wailing and gnashing teeth after the loss, Maja walked over to us with a half-hearted smile, "Oh well, we did the best we could today.  You can't win them all."

Losing doesn't build character, it just showcases the character you already have.  She's already planning mock drafts of eight year olds coming back, and wondering how she can learn about the seven year olds moving up next year. 

With a little more time to spend with relatives and teammates, we got a late start for drive down to Allentown, and thank God for that.  Besides the pea soup fog over the mountains, I forgot that we were going on Saturday, not only the far busier day of the two for the meet, but also competing with parking spots with the Allentown Farmer's Market. 

Once in, the girl's put their names down for the train races, we grabbed our hot dogs, and perused the layouts and a few vendors. 

I no longer need to pick them up to see everything. Bittersweet but my back is appreciative

 They rearranged some of the vendors/displays, including throwing the races to the opposite side of the building.  I couldn't find scenery vendor I had picked up the watermelon patch from years before, and that threw off my shopping list. The kids did well in the races (Millie won her first heat), and our late start, we departed for my Mom's....

..but not without a ViscountEric approved side trek to Steel City Comics in Bethlehem, in the same location that Dreamscape Comics last operated in.  The antique beer cooler is gone (a rusty health hazard), but the store is a beautifully uncluttered lump of clay, that once they get their regular comic orders, should be sculpted into something the comic and gaming community can enjoy. 

Versus the old Dreamscape, I'm appreciative of the clean slate approach.

 With a final stop for cheese fries to stop of meltdown (by my children, not me), the kids got dropped off at my Mom's and I bolted to Nichol's house for some much-needed meditation, dice-chucking, and simple venting about life. 

Nichols and Steve were the only ones who could make it, so we kept it low key, breaking out the tutorial scenarios from Beyond the Gates of Antares, or, as Nichols put it, Bolt Action in Space. 

Steve and I have learned to take every ounce of joy we can find from the precious face-to-face gaming time we had, so while Nichols tried to teach the rules, we may have made a few premature rulings and command decisions to keep the dice rolling and game moving.    Since Rick Priestley (formerly of GW fame) is behind this Warlord Games production, I hate to say that it feels a lot like previous iterations of 40k (chuck a lot of dice, your opponent chucks a bunch in return, remove one figure), plus the figures are so-so faux realistic.  I enjoyed the pinning rules, although my NCO overcame a lot adversary,  just to get shot it the head. 

I called an audible after wards and got Nichols to pull out his old Traveller and we made a session zero by simply creating characters.  Neither had created characters in Traveller before, so the threat of death with each term, plus the party of scum and villainy they created made the session a hoot.  I'll put this on the back burner of other games we can play (Roll20 anyone?)

At that point it was late, I grabbed the kids, some Taco Bell, and forged my way home in the fog.  Mission accomplished.  I'm somewhat relaxed, I don't need to visit my mother for a month, and my kids are asleep. 

This Was Madness, This... Was... SATLOF!

I'm sure we've had worse months that this November, but it's flipped us for a doozy.

With everything else happening, the normal holiday bum rush of activity has us going into a tizzy.  To top things off, my 25th high school reunion was scheduled to take place this past Saturday, and having missed my 20th, I felt some obligation to attend.

But there is always SATLOF.

Back in college, my roommate Steve (known for Professor O'Hara, Fonzie, and Echelon) introduced our extended group to FATLOF, the Friday After Thanksgiving Left-Over Feast.  He and his high school friends would get together on Black Friday, bring some leftovers from the previous day's festivities, and eat too much, imbibe a little trash can punch, and play some games.  Our social group, The Society of Neffs, ultimately adopted the same concept on Saturdays, hence the SATLOF.

For nearly two decades, we have kept that date open, as the one time our college friends, as well as extended friends and family, may have a chance to meet up and reconnect.  The festivities have moved south over the years, now occurring in Nate's home in South Allentown.

We got to the shin-dig just in time for food to served, and despite a few cancellations due to picking up the Post-Thanksgiving crud, I was happy to see my friend from high school, Scott, decide to eschew the reunion for SATLOF.

The trash can punch has gone away to give actual children fewer reason for Children & Youth to show up, but there was a fine collection of micro-brews from Old Forge Brewing in Danville, PA that offset the desire to fill a container full of fruit punch and any cheap liquor available in a plastic container.

By the time we got food in our bellies, caught up on everyone's situations, and redirected the kid's pirate game (which was really a LARP) away from the basement bar, it was time to breakout a game.

Steve made the choice easier by breaking out yet another Kickstarter find:  Family Plot, a puntastic card game.

We caught up on some LARPs some of the guys were writing/running, discussed our current group's online game debacle, and then realizing that our incompetent segment of the group at large is far more advanced than we think.

We also learned of the Narwhal Song.... and that companies make Christmas decorations with these elusive Arctic sea mammals.

I've already been informed that the 30th Reunion will take place on SATLOF 2022, so I have four years to get the other missing members of the group to SATLOF, before I may have to take a year off.  

This is Madness... This is SATLOF 2015!

Our extended group, both gamer and general weirdo alike, had a lot more mandatory high holy days than we had before.  Halloween and Paupuno Day (Super Bowl Sunday) are both run by Steve and attendance is nothing like it was before.   I have the day of Day of Sloth, and that has declined over the years to the point that this year we effectively had a secret enclave.

Nate has SATLOF, and while the numbers have declined, it is a can't-miss occasion for the core group.

SATLOF (Saturday After Thanksgiving Left Over Feast) was originally a concept (born of Steve's high school friend FATLOF) where everyone brought their leftovers for a party and pig-off two days after Thanksgiving.   It's evolved over the years, to where Nate essentially cooks a turkey with all the fixings, and we all bring a non-leftover item to the festivities (We took responsibilities for corn and rolls.)  Lots of good food, lots of good booze, and perhaps a game or two.

Outside forces have changed the holiday.  Nate moving to Allentown scared away a number of the Pocono attendees.  Kids have certainly changed the dynamic, but since there's more of them now they distract themselves.  And the desire to get completely faced has been whittled down to two or three participants.

This year, the front of the  food line was graced with this disturbing image.  

Of all the aluminum foil clad dishes, one was empty with another picture inside it and  "You chose ... Poorly..."  Food was great as always.

We managed to shed the children and meet at the basement bar for gaming and liquor.    Steve broke out Eggs and Empires, and it still ran great with six players.

The Silver Gnome overlooks the fate of the Empire.

I then broke down and played my first-ever game of Cards Against Humanity.    I stand by all my previous claims, although I must admit it was a raucous good time.  As my girls were quietly playing on the other side of the basement, I was given the questionable cards to read alot, essentially a parental filter.  Luckily, I only needed to rework one card.  

We got 15 minutes of game talk in, solidifying the 13th for the first game of the 2nd Edition AD&D campaign Hoyce wants to start.  I covered Spirit of '77 with a few of them, and we had a hasty debate about using Goodberries on unconscious characters.

The International Sign for a Par-Tay!

I had a great time, the girls had a fun time playing with some ... boys (???), and even my wife enjoyed herself.  So long as there are toys, I don't think I need to bring along kids games for the group, but it's a good cross-section for a playtest.

2015 Gaming Year in Review

Like a contorted hockey season, my gaming year is officially over.

The Blog
2013-2014 was a banner year and 2014-2015 blew that out of the water.   I averaged more than a post a day and my hits went up about 20%.  Somebody's reading this!  Of course, a spam hit from Italy overinflated my growth post-Historicon.  I hate Italy.

The Top Ten Blog Posts of the Last Twelve Months
1. Battle of Isandlwana, Family Style
2. Cold Wars 2015 - Friday
3. History of the Gnome World, Part One
4. The Board
5. Mandatory Holiday Swag
6. Plunder from the Tomb
7. The Lost Shrine of Tu'Lip
8. Sphinx Head by Maja
9. RPGaDay (2014) Favorite Con Game
10. Reaper Bones Kickstarter Launches in June

The readers have spoken, so family-fun AARs it shall remain!

The Best Laid Plans
So, looking back at my plans back in October 2014, the year appears to be a dismal failure.

• Car Wars?  Nothing, save jumping on the Arenas Kickstarter
• Samoa?  Outside of restoring some beat up figs, the island was quiet.
• Home?  Filed deep into my records.  I'll try not to mention it again.
• The Gnomish Space Marines?  Despite hyping some playtesting at Mepacon, I was forced to cancel and haven't looked at things since.

So what has happened?

The FLGS
Emerald Vale moved down the street and expanded it's square footage and inventory, while reducing its owners from two to one.   I did some Sunday night booster drafts last Fall, and lived la vida loca at a midnight pre-release tournament.    I actually haven't played Magic since, although I did acquire one of my beloved Ihf-Biff Efreets, put it in the Treefolk Deck, and shoved that in a drawer.

They seem to be doing well with Magic, Infinity, Games Workshop, Heroclix, and an unusally active Blood Bowl group (when did Blood Bowl get expensive... along with everything else?). 

It is the one place in my life that I've encountered vaping, and as much as the smell of cigarettes on someone coming in from a smoke break disgusts me, the idea of someone vaping while playing a game makes me want to smash their faces in with a lead pipe.  If it's permitted in the game area, I'll avoid game nights. 

Now, I've discovered that the one owner has gotten out and the other is moving the store again to another location within a quarter mile. Joy of joys.

They're also not particularly responsive to my idiot proof special orders I've submitted from my Apathy of the New Releases columns.  Nothing comes out till October, but I've yet to know if anything was even ordered.

My only 5-gnome-out-of-5 gnome review, Pop's Culture Shoppe, is finalizing their webstore, and I'm tempted to avoid close proximity, eschew Amazon discounts, and pay for shipping and handling if Pop's can just communicate and get my stuff to me.

For now, the FLGS is getting drink and chip purchases for the kids when we make a futile run there.

Cold Wars 2015
We got back to the core group (Steve, Brian, and myself) for the "Guy's Weekend" and we had a good time. I played in a Western using Blood and Swash,  a WW2 game using Doctor Who Miniatures Game, Two types of Jousts, including blowing through the competition to win the Gnome Joust!  As I plan for Fall-In! in November, I'll try to plan a weekend like that, just with a six year old in tow.  I'll go light on the Mad Elf.

Kickstarter
My Kickstarter addiction resolves most issues that I have with my FLGS. 
Car Wars Arenas  - ON TIME/EARLY
De Horrore Cosmico  - DELIVERED - ON TIME
Pyramid of the Lost King  - LATE, VERY VERY LATE
Reaper Bones III (Add-ons Only) - JUST COMPLETED.  CAN ADD ON MORE THROUGH MAY
Scavengers RPG - PLAYTEST PDF ARRIVED, A WEE BIT LATE
Tales of the Caribbean   - CAMPAIGN JUST STARTED
Star Patrol: Carrier Commander - CAMPAIGN JUST STARTED

Of the old stuff from last year that's still pending, only the RAFM CoC minis are still outstanding, and it's just a matter of shipping them from Canada.

The Mini-Birthday Throwdown
Unlike last year's epic throwdown, this was a small affair with Brian and Steve involving Harbor, Battletech, Tiny Epic Defender, and a cutthroat game of Connect Four.  

Operation Tom Sawyer
My plan to clear off the painting table was a moderate success.  Only 53 new items painted, but I fixed up most of my Samoan armies and Gnome armies (207 total).   I also whitewashed the table and have some tiny projects in the queue for once.

Games
#30GamesAMonth:   Thirty different games over thirty days in September was a grandiose task that real life crushed like a steel-toe boot. 

Gnome Wars: Not Much this year.  The kids have been happy with smaller scale 25mm skirmish/role-playing.

Magic:  I have quenched my thirst for the game for another decade.  It was enjoyable while it lasted.

Zombie Dice:  Zombie Dice has become the go-to game in the family.  It's quick, it's simple enough for Millie, and Maja tries to teach every person that walks in the door. 

CoC - People were maimed in England, but in Egypt, the gloves have come off.  Character death may be a way of life in Cairo.  The players have been warned.

Savage Showdown: I've tried using this stripped down version of Savage Worlds to replace T.I.A.R.A. and Gnome Wars, and so far, the kids like it.  Fast and simple, until the special rules kick in.

Of course, the biggest news of the year occurred last month, when the beloved Hoyce returned to the area.  We're desperately trying to arrange CoC, Hackmaster, and 2nd Edition AD&D games with him, as well as convincing him to become another fella on the guys weekend to Cold Wars 2016.!

The 2015 Gaming with the Gnomies Awards!
Best Kickstarter:  De Horrore Cosmico.  Great book, great communication, and I don't even own a copy of Cthulhu Invictus!  It's that good.

Worst Kickstarter:  Reaper Bones II  - Somehow RAFM, now with a ten-month delay, gets a pass because the minis are awesome.  They share the same fate as Chaosium, not having enough money to ship crap out.  Perhaps I just expect a company as professional as Reaper being able to schedule in enough delays into production so late when an item is late, it's still early according to Kickstarter guidelines.  It could be far, far worse, as some of the $1 pledges I've made are for projects that will never see light of day.

Best Game:  ZOMBIE DICE.  Although the Risus IOU game was the best role-playing session,  this game keeps our family together.  Can't beat that.

Best RPG Buy: Cold Harvest - Stalinist Era scenario.  Who's worse, the Mythos or the humans?

Best Minis Buy:  The Battletech Introductory Boxed Set I got from my wife for Christmas.  Sure, it's more expensive than the old Games Workshop boxed sets that I use to gauge "expensive." but it comes with soooo many minis, and  a better painting guide than GW produces (and charges additional for).

Best "Other Purchase"  The spice rack my wife got me for my paints ranks up there, but the Windsword Miniatures Sphinx Head that Maja painted wins out. 

 

The Steve O'Hara Gallery #1

Since the name of the blog is Gaming with the Gnomies, it's foolish for me not to mention some Gnome Wars awesomeness, especially when it's my friend and former college roommate Steve.

 

I've gamed with Steve through college, through both Hackmaster campaigns post-college, and he's been with my Call of Cthulhu campaign since session two. 

 

Possibly even more impressive than that is he has been one of the consistent members of the "Man's Weekend" (aka Cold Wars)  and while he hasn't accumulated armies of mass destruction, he has picked up a good-sized collection of gnomes.

 

And now they're painted... 

 

German Peasant Infantry, Bier Stein Grenadier, and Rifleman

Russian Priest

Santa and a Mummy

Nomepoleon

French Soldiers

 Outside of some practice with the eyes, the minis are simply awesome and rival most of those who bring their own armies to a GW game at an HMGS con.   I failed to get specific pictures of them, but the French packs looking worn and weathered and the toys in Santa's bad are particularly top notch or beyond.

While Steve didn't paint this one himself, this is a T-Rex skull from Windsword Accessories , the same place the I got the Egyptian accessories.

Cold Wars 2015 - Friday

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

 

March means Cold Wars and Cold Wars means the "Guys Weekend" where we escape our brow beating lives for a couple of days and live it up a little. 

 

Of course, the big story of the weekend wasn't any special game or new release, rather the Ice Station Zebra occurring outside.  The regular flurry of cancellations due to "real life" had already come in hot and heavy (again, it's not unusual), but the snow-ice-rain-snow-DEEP FREEZE combination made things treacherous for the GMs and normal attendees, much less the dealers towing a big-ass trailer with all their wares inside.

 

But before I could depart,  I had to see a woman about a dog.

 

I had previously mentioned that my wife had "volunteered" us for a short-term fostering of a rescue dog.  The week commitment had stretched to over a month, and with two young kids, two cats, now THREE dogs, and full time jobs, our extra guest was the straw breaking the family's back.  She was scheduled for her "forever home" Tuesday, but there was no way my wife could handle everything solo. 

 

So, after getting my eldest, Maja, on the bus, and little Millie off to daycare, I needed to drive Lala the dog to McAdoo to meet with a rescue volunteer who could keep her over the weekend before she was spayed and went to her new home.

 

See the parking lot in the picture above?  Outside of I-81 and US30, that was the best pavement I saw as I navigated the back roads from Lebanon down to Lancaster.  Driving through giant lakes of standing water at points was much preferred to the alternative, "Reverse Potholes" three or four inch high shelves of ice between the clear tire ruts in the road.

 

I somehow made it down only a half-hour longer than usual and found a near-empty registration line.  Of course, the lone person in front of me had no idea what they were doing, and as the line started to swell behind me, a second person opened to speed up the process.  They had the very popular pink con shirts again, and to guarantee I brought something home for the girls, I snagged up two smalls, which created the only snafu in the process.  Someone had entered the wrong prices in the system, and it took a minute or to generated the ten dollar refund. 

 

After running into my friend Brian, we hit the bar for a few moments of libations, plotted our course and wandered about.

 

Pulp Game

Jurassic Luftwaffe vs RAF vs USAF, just like in the history books!

I absolutely love the mountains!

Friday afternoon was simply dead for games.  Let's be honest, everything picks up after dinner on Friday, but Distelfink was desolate.  It appeared the flea market stole a few feet from tournament section, so I didn't experience the usual jostling.

 

Although the picture doesn't show it well, the dealer's hall had large swaths of emptiness Friday afternoon.

At 1:00pm vendor were still arriving and trying to set up their stands, and a few wouldn't be filled until Saturday.  Certain sections that would be dedicated to a sales booth were now display tables for Architects of War and Warlord, and in all my trips to the hall, I never saw anyone playing with them. 

 

Perhaps it was the hellish drive in, icy loading ramp, and sense of dread that no one would show up, but I sense a lot of negative responses from the dealers, when, cash in hand, I wanted to buy something.  It seemed like I was being a hassle to them, and although I didn't do the smart thing and pre-order everything for "pick-up at Cold Wars,"  there wasn't a line of customers behind me.  Some of my shopping lists went unfilled and other parts went untouched. 

Cowboys and Mexicans

Mars in 25mm

Baltimore Election Riot of 1856

 

Space Battle

Karbala Gap, Iraq 2003

In the afternoon, Brian and I jumped in the "what if" battle of St. Pierre et Miquelon using the Doctor Who Miniatures rules.  The DW rules are very story based.  Nazis, Americans, and French (Vichy, Free, and Gendarmes) were scurrying around the estate looking for the administrator of the colony and a woman with very "interesting" talents. 

 

While the skirmish between the French forces was merely missed shots, a few ill-fated hit and run attempts with the cars, and a miss thrown Free French grenade into its own forces, the Americans and Nazi had a whiz-bang throwdown through the multiple building and floors of the escape.  While the action cards did not necessarily fit this type of encounter, by the end of the game we were fully embracing the thematic elements with willful abandon.   The Vichy and Nazis escaped off the island with the woman, but mechanical problems on their u-boat doomed them to a watery grave.

My Stormtroopers, errrr, French, could not hit anything.

More Mars

The Other Side of Mars

 

French Foreign Legion



By the time Dr Who was over, I managed to get ahold of my friend Steve.  He had been the victim of an unfortunately scheduled business meeting in Center City Philly Friday afternoon, but was braving traffic to get to Lancaster ASAP.  We decided to give up our parking spots in the Siberian wastes of the overflow lot and drive over to the Continental Inn to check in. 

 

This was the first time I experienced new traffic light in front of the host, and it brought me to giggles.  The Golden Corral seems nice too, but within the twenty minutes we drove to the Continental, check-in, and agreed to meet Steve there, it swelled from ten cars in the parking lot  to a scene more fitting a third world relief effort after an earthquake.  We eventually found the only empty restaurant in all of Lancaster, the Bob Evans near the end of the outlet strip.  It was quick and friendly service, and most importantly, great food.  A run to the Wawa at the other end of 30 for "after hour supplies" and we were back at the Host with my car right next to the front door.

Stalingrad

Post Apocalyptic Shanty Town (

Upon our return, we jumped into the only Gnome-related game left on the schedule (outside the joust).  It was a fun Treasure hunting scenario... with tanks.  I'll post pics and details about that on a separate "gnome only" post later.

 

After the game, we ran into the actual "Gnome Guy" Jim Stanton, rocking an air boot and a bedazzled cane.  Soon we migrated to the bar upstairs, and my trio partook in what I hope will be a Cold Wars tradition, the downing of the Mad Elfs. 

After a few hours of socializing with the Stout Gnomes (and lovingly drinking our Mad Elfs), we almost closed the bar, stumbled back to the hotel, ate our "after hour supplies." and fell asleep by 4am.

And were up by 7am to start Saturday (pics and story coming soon!)

Site:  The Host is what The Host is, although the parking lot would make a great set for a live-action version of Frozen.  No new horror stories from anyone staying there, although there are a LOT of empty rooms not available for rent, due to a need to rehabilitate/remodel them.  On-site food was passable, as always, although I do have to say that the staff seemed much friendlier and accommodating than cons past.

Lodging:  Thanks to the people who blazed a trail in the snow so we could traverse back and forth from the Continental and the Host.  Room was clean, staff friendly, parking lot decently plowed, and the complimentary omelet may have saved Steve's life.

Events:  Lacking, thanks to the weather.   There were alot of AWI/Napoleonic/Civil War games that had full tables and nice presentation, but they weren't eye-catching.  To be honest, they were far more than felt and lichen, but they all looked the same.  The con theme (1865: The Beginning of the End of the End of the Civil War for the First Time) had few noticeable events outside of smaller rooms.  Everything I did was in the beer-and-pretzel skirmish side of things and was perfect to kickstart some wargaming this Spring. 

Dealers:  Missing dealers and grumpy dealers produced the exact opposite of normal spending, where I spend 80% there and 20% at the flea market. Outside of some the last remaining Teddy Bear Cowboys, and Brigade Games Chupacabras for every member of the family.    I might have also been discouraged by a lack of Zap-a-Gap or even Superglue (the GF9 stuff doesn't meet my needs) and some sticker shock for some of the rule books ($42.00 cover price for DBA 3.0?  My daughter's five and wrote a book for school with more pages in it.)

Flea Market:  The few seemed to be the same people recycling the same stuff.  A few buildings, a few minis, and some more Pegasus palm trees (for $5).  I did have a few friends who grabbed tables this time and they did make a killing in the first ten minutes.

The Day of Sloth 2015

Saturday was our annual Day of Sloth picnic, an excuse to grill meat, play games, and drink copious amounts of beer.  For a lot of people, it was also the first showing of our new house.

For a number of years, the day was capped off with an Illuminati University game using Risus, but alas, real life and changes to the schedule (the last two years were Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday) have netted fewer gamers in attendance.   In fact, my buddy Steve was the only representative of the group in attendance.  We drank beer, shot the you know what, and critiqued D&D 5e.    I even broke out the recent minis, much to the oohs and ahhs of the mundanes.  I keep forgetting that most people wouldn't even know what to do with the figures if they tried.

The only amusing thing that transpired was me breaking out my tomato case full of army guys (a la Burning Plastic) and letting the kids go wild.  As I wandered out front later in the day, army guys littered the driveway like the Road of Death from the First Gulf War.  Mission Accomplished.

I also may have a new endeavour:  teaching kids to paint.  I got than one request from the kids and the mundane parents asking how, and with the backlog of those requests, I might as well do a simple version using some spare gnomes or some army men.  

The Gnome Runs Again!

Today was a busy day in the ViscountEric household.  This morning was the 5K race to support the organization my wife volunteers for,  A Positive Promise.   My wife had gotten the crazy idea to raise money to make my large frame run the race, and while they came up just short of the $500 to 'make' me run the race, I put it upon myself to do a little training and make sure I could finish the damn thing.

My wife even got me t-shirt for the event, plus matching ones for the girls...

Would this shot of my belly constitue a "belfie?"

I was slow as molasses, the course signage was lacking, causing everyone to run about 3.4 miles instead of the usual 3.1, and the hill on the couse nearly swallowed up some of the competent runners, but I did finish.  I helped clean up and sprinted  back to the new house, as my friends Nate and Steve (Balls and Archi) were set to make an appearance.

After the kids provided their mandatory tour of the house, we got down to brass tacks and commenced drinking and playing  games!

Our drink of choice.  Not bad, and priced right.

 The first game we played from Steve's bag o' tricks was Agents.  Despite a wildly successful Kickstarter and interesting gameplay mechanics, the artwork and quality of the product left me underwhelmed.

Next, my eldest daughter Maja, took the attention of the boys, and a container of her toys hit the table. Using some very basic TIARA rules, we established a do-or-die fight between all the ponies in the kingdom, the undersea kingdoms, and the snow creatures.

It took some spectacular dice rolls to maintain a tie, but Steve, playing Gaston, offered to broker a peace deal which was accepted, over television viewing hours.  Afterwards everyone had cake (Both pretend and real life!)

King Crab dominates the negotiations, for a turn.

Our final games of the evening were Dungeon Roll.  I couldn't get anything started when it was my turn, but I had fun nonetheless.

Here's hoping for a calmer Sunday.

If It Weren't for Rainstorms, There Wouldn't Be Rainbows... on Fire

I would say my past week was turned up to 11, but that is my normal week. After a great weekend, my car decided to make some ridiculous noises coming home Tuesday night. Luckily I was meeting my wife and kids to do grocery shopping, so I had a ride back to the house. My friendly mechanically inclined neighbor and I drove back to the parking lot in sleet and ice to give the engine everything but an absolute death certificate.

After days of borrowing vehicles, sharing rides, and being homebound, the situation isn’t much better, but the light at the end of the tunnel is less likely to be an oncoming train.

Upon towing the car to my neighbor’s father-in-law’s garage, he found a tiny piece of one of the spark plugs had sheared off and landed inside one of the pistons. At last report, they were still trying to fish the tiny piece of metal through a tiny hole with a tiny magnet on a string. If they were unsuccessful today, they start to take it apart to remove it and check for damage. If there is significant damage, I need to contact Harry’s U-Pull-It for an engine.

Thank God the tax return decided to hit Wedesday morning at 8am. Regardless, I’ll still be making it to Cold Wars next weekend. My days and budget are all dependent, of course, on the status of car. I’m compiling multiple shopping list scenarios so I can start Samoa and not drain the bank account. If my wife is already making DisneyWorld/cruise plans for 2014, I can still dream that I still have a hobby.

I know Jim Stanton is ready and raring to run the mega-game with his 551 gnomes.  Throw in a few units from me, a half dozen from "the Canadians," and at least 10 players coming in with their own units, and we'll have over 1,000 figures covering three giant tables.  Should be glorious fun.

This weekend I NEED to get through my closet in the house and reassemble my gnome forces, touch up any paint jobs, especially the hats on the British Marines, paint up some low-impact Legions of Steel minis to relax, and finalized my CW shopping lists.  My buddy Steve and our friend Jeff plan on continuing the guy's weekend tradition, so if all is well I have some Friday night crash space.

And although I'm behind on my Cthulhu Actual Play reports, Jugular Josh managed to play with us and wrote up his own little version of the affair. I won’t admit to laughing out loud and blushing at the same time while reading his post.

The Scottish Insurrection, Because They're Already Revolting

This past weekend will probably amount to the high point of my summer, if not until Cold Wars next year.

As I previously mentioned, I had my friends Phil and Jess up for some gaming extravaganza on Saturday.

Sunday was a trek to visit my friend Steve and give him one last hurrah before his wife gives birth and either he descends into that phase of fatherhood, or we discover that the Mayans were right.

What started off as a nice father to future father offer of some wargaming to a mini convention.  We've spent the last few years happy if four people got together. Sunday we had a dozen people in the house, most crammed into Steve's Bar. 

I arrived late, due to a babysitting issue (a foreshadow of things to come for Steve. mwhahaha!)  I gave my Godson Connor his primed and based unit and a half of Highlanders finally and started setting up Steve's battleboard for some Gnome action.

Steve had requested a good amount of Miniatures Building Authority items for Christmas and his relatives apparently love him.  Of course, his terrain has been set up in the bar the entire time and almost seven months later, we would finally christen it.

With three and a half units of Highlanders, and plenty of support weapons to boot, it was easy to set up a Scots versus the World scenario. 

The Highlanders

Objective: Hold the Compound at all costs.

Units:

Clan MacBirkner -  1 1/2 units, no support weapon

Clan MacNichols -  1 unit with LMG and Golf Mortar support

Clan MacNichols Teal - 1 unit with LMG

The Allies

Objective: Place one unit of troops of good standing with the compound's courtyard at the end of the game

Units: 

Swiss

British Marines

USAmerican Cavalry

(Paint) Free French

more reinforcements were in the initiative deck.

The Allied Deployment

The Highlanders Deploy Sparsely

The Early Rounds:

The Highlanders started by sending a portion of Clan MacBirkner to the first hill, as well as picking off British Marines through slats in the high fence.  The Cav charged down the road, turning at the ford and hid under brush from fire from the hill.  The Marines followed suit.  The French decided to charge out of the estate and dash for the bridge.  A few shots from the golf mortar dissuaded this tactic pretty early. The Swiss did what the Swiss normally do:  Tunnel.

The Cav Leads the Way!

The Middle Rounds

The Highlanders contihnued to get comfortable (we had three novice and one experienced player on that side).  Their light machine gun and golf mortar continued to pound the French who quickly decided that charging up the 1st hill to engage MacBirkners in hand to hand was less lethal.  They were successful in the assault, but the casualties were too much and they routed.

The USAmericans stormed passed the annoying Highlanders and worked around to behind the buildings on the far side of the table. The British Marines did a good job eliminating the advance guard along the fence and pondered their next move.

The French Assault the First Hill

The Swiss continued to dig, and the lowly four soldiers sent out popped up around the light machine gun and tried to seize the weapon.  Unfortunately the Clan MacNichols Berserker was there and quickly picked up two kills.  The final combat was against the Swiss Officer and the Berserker ran out of gas.  The Highlanders atop the hill did quick work of the sole remaining Swiss tunnel team and quickly regained the LMG.  The remaining Swiss back at their deployment slowly left the chateau towards the ford in the road.

Late Rounds

Finally, reinforcements arrived!  Aussie Cav arrived, and quickly took the spot that had just been filled by the British.  The British had managed to seize the first building without the Highlanders realizing it, so they hung out their until the end of the game.  The Swiss moved gingerly along, but it was the USAmericans wrecked the most havoc.  They were not only the single allied unit to trade fire with Highlanders in the village square, but the final few managed a charage across, scattering the enemy, but decimating themselves in the process.The Highlanders still occupied the town when I called it, so they won. The casualties were tremendous.

Berserkers Just Don't Fare Well Sometimes

Given the new players and no future knowledge of the battle board,  I think this was moderately successful.  I may continue to run the Scottish Civil War for the new players, just with some old Mordheim terrain and some kilt on kilt action. 

(Cold Wars) I Was Wargaming and a Hockey Game Broke Out

Alright, my big event is covered and I know Jim is still putting some finishing touches on the Megagame posts. When he's finished, I will link to them in another post and give my own analysis of the scenario.

First off, the official picture of the British Marines I painted for this weekend, with the SS Indoubitably in the background, complete with sails!

We're looking for a fight... and a cheap Blu-Ray Player.

I believe Friday afternoon's Gnome Wars game was titled Treasure Island, but it looked nothing like the game played on Saturday afternoon. It was similar to my Samoa game, except the coastline was pushed back, a fort added, as well as a vast amount of blue seas.

Those nine ships in the distance? Try at least 15 ships, launches, plus other floating fun in that tiny space!

In traditional Gnome Wars big game fashion, the table was divided in two. There was ship game, where players were putting Jim's ship rules to a fast and furious test, and the land game, where mostly kids and new players had fun shooting at each other. It worked out well...

... unless you were the British Marines in the fort, having to defend against the amphibious assault of marauding pirates and angry Irish, as well as have concern with the Sikhs who came on the board mere inches from their gates.

I think we're in a tight spot.... SUH!

This unit began the German theme for the entire con of sit back and do nothing

I took command of the Blue Coat British Marines in charge of the brig, the beauty of a ship Herzogbrian worked on for Jim, as documented on Jim's blog.

For the Pirates, this ended poorly

I was a horrible choice for captain for this ship's maiden voyage. With extra cannons on each side and the British special ability of sea legs (fighting and firing at a +1 bonus), I took my policing duties seriously as I fired warning shots at the Swiss and Highlander boats. Both ships decided to grapple onto mine and we went back and forth with a series of boarding actions. No healing for the British quickly decimated my ranks, but not before the Highlanders steamer had multiple fires and the Swiss broke off to combat a cannibal canoe threat. Just as the Highlanders and I were to strike an agreement, a crafty group of pirates fired upon us and tried to take the ship.

The British unloaded some cannister into the pirates and attempted to board the depleted pirate ship. I was killed to the man, but only one lone skeleton pirate was left to sail for all eternity, or until the next pirate movie comes out.

Of course I know of Davy Jones' Locker. That's where I store my Monkees records!

On top of my troubles, cannibals in canoes had infiltrated the harbor and were wreaking havoc everywhere. I'm not even sure who had my boat at the end, as the harbor was littered with burning and/or abandoned ships.

My friend Steve, who I convinced to play in three separate gnome games this weekend, controlled the pirates landing at the foot of the fort. After watching the Irish get obliterated by the British Marines controlling the fort, his pirates casually scurried away from the fort, and absconded with a ship that had been sitting at the dock, unprotected. He managed to almost get off the board without a shot being fired at him.

After a good post-game feedback section in regards to the ship rules, we headed off to Applebee's for food and booze. When we returned, Jim was deep within a playtesting session of his Fantasy Hockey game. His playtesters were the finest group able to take on such an endeavour: The Canadians. I kid you not, they were debating the proper speed and angle on a hex grid for a cross-check. I did not get a chance to play, as they were deep within playtesting, but the game itself was exciting, with a game-tying goal in the final seconds of regulation, and
an extended shoot-out with some miracle saves.

Steve (center) controlled the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (except steal a ship)

The only thing wrong with this picture are the empty pint glasses.