2018-19 Gaming Year in Review

Hey true believers!  Ever since high school, I've tracked my gaming like the federal fiscal calendar, so it makes sense to have September 30th cover my Year in Review.

The Blog
Ten years blogging as of this month.  Almost 3,000 posts and we'll be hitting a half-million views (some actually legit!) sometime in 2020.  It's been a fun hobby documenting my other hobbies.

The Top Ten Blog Posts Over the Past Twelve Months
#1 New Post-Apoc Minis from Brigade Games
#2 Fall-In! 2018 AAR
#3 James Stanton for HMGS Board of Directors
#4 Cold Wars 2019 AAR
#5 Curse of Nevoz #3 - Fourteen Beers at Chili's
#6 Historicon 2019 Day-Trip
#7 The Keg Golem
#8 Of Armies and Hordes Released by Ganesha Games
#9 Curse of Nevoz #1 - Clean Up, Aisle Four!
#10  (Review) Chickapig

I'll usually take any traffic I can get, but the New Post-Apoc Minis from Brigade post and the one regarding Jim Stanton for HMGS Board of Directors seemed to pique the interest of certain Italian and Ukrainian bots, respectively.  After suffering from outrageous production from posts regarding Wardlings and a Shadowrun Kickstarter last year, I felt it was appropriate to delete those posts.

Removing all the posts with alleged bot-hits, 2019 looks similar to 2018.  No Easter game this year removed wargames from the top "8."  And it pays to work off a popular free Call of Cthulhu scenario and another based off a Reddit chain to my "Curse of Nevoz" Canadian College Cthulhu campaign.

The demise of Google+ was quite noticeable to my overall and individual  post views.  It seems more than coincidental that after April, the average pageviews for the first week of a new posts seems to have dropped in half compared to the last few years.  Again, it could have all been bot-inflated numbers exploiting Google+, but it makes one wonder.

Best Laid Plans that Didn't Pan Out:

Everything -  The girl's basketball horizons expanded from the local community league (which I'm now vice-president of) to five different leagues and an equal number of camps.  Outside of a badly injured wrist at an AAU tournament at the Jersey Shore, it's been a positive and fun experience, but it has significantly hampered any sort of family gaming projects.  Tack on my second promotion at work in the last two years and normal lunch hour chillaxin' on the blogs has disappeared.   Let's not even mention the pool we got installed.  First world gamer problems indeed.

The Purge 2019 - A mini-book purge cleared up the shelves.  Nothing that I was even close to playing.

Kids Painting - See basketball comments above, although they have managed to use my paints for some arts and crafts projects.

My Painting - I touched up a bunch of figures... and then... nothing.  Working on the RPG actual plays has turned by workbench time into office time in front of the computer.  The basement flooding didn't help either.

Reverisco - I was able to make a few interesting purchases this year.  One was finally placing an order with tin-soldier.com (Reverisco).  The sets are quite affordable, except that the scale of the figures wanders between 20mm and 28mm.  That's a huge disparity.

Highlights of 2019:

The New Neighbors and the Return of Swahili!:  We loved our old neighbors, we were sad when they were forced to move for work, and we had the slightest of trepidation with the new family and their younger kids.  Except James, the father, plays Magic, is interested in podcasts and D&D, and family in general likes to play games.  Probably didn't get as much out of it as I could this Summer, but I broke out my Magic cards against an adult, and dusted off my old copy of Swahili.  Even with basketball season coming along, I foresee some winter days playing games with all ages between the houses.

When we do get the chance to chill out together our families keep things low-key

Battle in a Box, Prematurely: The Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers (HAWKs) have a host of cool ideas, one of which was Battle in a Box.  The idea of setting up a game that could be easily packed up and transported, and making a contest out of it was simply brilliant.  I just couldn't get mine to run following the contest rules at Fall-In!  Still, six players and a chance to play more Second Samoan Civil War was a hoot!

The Lost Dispatches That Will Not Die: When I started my Lost Dispatches of Feraso, I simply wanted a vehicle to document all the adventures I ran in high school in the very early 90's.  Within the first ten posts it evolved into something else.  I've been able to not only cobble together the adventures into a logical order, but expound upon those areas.  I must admit that I'm re-writing some campaign history as I go.

Kickstarters:
The Power d4:  Still slated for December 2019 fulfillment
Twelve Hundred Words:  ARRIVED EARLY.  It is was it is.
Cthulhu Wars: Cataclysm:  June 2020
Bag of Bags:  ARRIVED JUST THIS FRIDAY
Sandstorm Wars I & II:  Dragging....  three months late!
Girl Underground:  RECEIVED!
Life of the Party, Volume 3: Great product, THREE MONTHS EARLY.
Steve Jackson Pocket Box Games:
In the Dungeon of the Wizard Lord Keraptis: Nice product, good communication, quick shipping and....  I donated it to the local con's charity auction.  Another whim item I don't see myself using.
Flying Circus:  Somewhere within the ether.  It's a year overdue for a pdf.  I know I probably have some version of the pdf which was made available, but at this point, I don't really care.
Reaper Bones 4:  Arrived with the normal Reaper massive Kickstarter delays.  The few figures I got are spectacular, and I now own a pig cart!

The Kid's Painting:
Maja enjoyed painting at Jim Stanton's classes at Hobby U

Maja's work on the left.

My Own Painting:  
A pittance, really.  Touching up the Samoans, a Middle-Eastern building I've yet to use, and a random hill giant.  This is why Reaper Bones V goes live tomorrow and I probably will pick up $40-50 worth of a la carte items.

Games:
5e D&D - Our DM Jeff ran into some personal problems and was forced to bail. I love GMing, but being a player was pretty liberating and relaxing.  Just a week ago, Jeff made a triumphant (albiet three week) return, and I greatly appreciated Falgor the Mighty and Uthar literally wrestling cats.  Okay, they were Tabaxi, same difference.

Adventures in Gulluvia:  Once Lost Dispatches is finally finished (March 2020?), I already have 17 episodes of Adventures in Gulluvia in the can.  BECMI D&D with a decent body count and better role-playing with 3d6 stats in order than most special systems I've seen.

Curse of Nevoz:  Running a 90's Call of Cthulhu game set in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada was not on the top of any list, but it seems to be successful.

Risus: If all else fails, another Fleetwood Mac cover band can be used with Risus.

Pulp: Our Savage Showdown game is slowly evolving into Pulp Alley and the kids might like it that way.

Conventions:
Mepacon Fall 2018 - Cranky ViscountEric vs the Santa Parade
Fall-in! 2018 - "These halls remind me of scary scenes from Doctor Who" 
Cold Wars 2019 - The Host is Dead, Long Live the Wyndham
Historicon 2019 -  A very worthwile day-trip


Media:  It world might belong to the geek now, but after seeing The Big Bang Theory (and Preacher) finally end.  Seeing Shazam! on the big screen is a dream come true for this fan of the Big Red Cheese.  Otherwise, this geek-glut of material has been so-so.

The second biggest geek scream of the year?

2019 Gaming with the Gnomies Awards!
Best Kickstarter:  Life of the Party  - Quick, easy, exactly what I wanted.  Bag of Bags gets 2nd place.

Worst Kickstarter: Flying Circus - Estimated delivery: August 2018.  I think I have a copy of the pdf (my reward level), but I don't know if it's the final word, and I really don't care at this point.

Best Game:  Whiskey Tango Rattlesnake - a two player, one Keeper game of CoC using the character rules from Electric Hoe-Down of the Atomic Reptile Bikini Women in 3-D!!!  Was the most enjoyable game I've had in a long time.  I laughed.... a LOT.

Best RPG Purchase: 5e Ghosts of Saltmarsh still hate the hardcover campaigns, but it's a well put-together project.

Best Minis: Space Marines/IG - If something is going to jump-start the family painting, dirt cheap Imperial Guard and Space Marines might be it, even if I'm not a Games Workshop fan.

Honorable Mention, because their certainly not my minis, was Maja taking part in the Armies for Kids game, sponsored by the HAWKS.   Even more stuff for her to paint.  

Best "Other" Purchase: Bloody White Baron by James Palmer.  Enough of a reality-check for the true brutality of the Back of Beyond, but I'm also intrigued.

Next: My Plans for 2019-2020

My Event for Fall-In! 2018

Upon realizing that the deadline for the Fall-In! Preliminary Events List (PEL) was August 24th, not August 28th, I quickly assembled an event at the last minute.

The Burning of Mautonu
American Marines have landed on Samoa to try and keep the peace in the capital while a civil war rages across the rest of the islands. After a few difficult encounters while venturing out into the countryside, they are given orders to seize the small village of Mautonu.  The overland march has been easy for once, far too easy.
Saturday 10am - 3 hours - 6 players  - System: Contemptible Little Armies

Pretty much the event I was looking at running.  I do need to do a bit more research to turn a historical action into a "what if?" battle. 

On a good note, someone did update the Samoan Civil War pages on Wikipedia and no longer cite Robert Louis Stevenson as a primary source during a war that took place four years after his death. 

I'll be participating in the Battle in a Box contest as an unregistered contestant.  With my daughter Maja in tow, I can't adhere to the judging rules for Saturday.  In the spirit of the contest, I'll be ordering a 17-liter Really Useful box and trying to fill it with everything I need for a 5'x8' table.  Figures, dice, rulers, playmat, terrain, the whole nine yards. 

(Painting) German East African Schutztruppe

It's done.  

After gnashing of teeth, wringing of hands, and inhalation of sealant fumes, my German Schutztruppe are done.

It's been forever since I placed an order for these from Pulp Figures

Three packs German Colonial Rifles (PGS15) and an accompanying pack of German Colonial Officers and NCOs (PGS16) later, and there are 20 Colonial Germans ready to wreck havoc on whatever I paint next.

With so many varieties and combinations of uniforms, I stuck with East African Südwester colors, although most WWI and "alt-history Pulp" Germans would be wearing tropical hats.  

They may see some action in the "Pulp Egypt" game.  If I've allowed gnomes, elves, and the supernatural in it, some German influence on the undefined map couldn't be that unusual.  

Worst case, they'll be incorrectly dressed Germans in a "what-if" Second Samoan Civil War Scenario where the Germans actually get active during the hostilities.  

I do have the two machine gun team to paint up, but their pretty far back in the queue.  

Next in the Queue:  The Arabs (Civilians and Revolt) take over the role of 800-pound gorilla on the painting bench, but I'd like to refurbish some dinged-up Samoans and possibly visit some 6mm powered infantry from the New Transnitrian Scientific Republic.

(Painting) The Volcano Queen, Ape God Cultists, and a Full Polynesian Army

Put those air conditioners away and break out the plow this Easter weekend, cause it's gonna snow.  I actually completed an entire project! 

First off, the Volcano Queen  pack from Pulp Figures

Volcano Queen

Okay, the pack is missing the rather Caucasian damsel in distress, but for the current pulp game, only famed Swedish adventurer Nils Lingonberry is currently missing, and he's very male.

The Volcano Queen set are the leaders of the Cult of the Ape God, and they need some followers. Here are the Cultists of the Ape God, using two packs of Melanesian Island Warriors 3 from Pulp Figures.

Melanesian Island Warriors 3

The wood they use for their weapons is from a mystical origin.  Unless broken, the nearly whitewood never ages or discolors, even when soaked with the blood of their enemies.

I do have some touch-up to do and some of my earlier spearmen are sans spears for now, but now I have essentialy completed a Polynesian army for Colonial or maybe even Interwar/Pulp play!

All miniatuers are from Pulp Figures

Over 100 figures (over 110 if I include my Mata'alfa Elite Guard, which are really Brigade Games Nigerians)  one figure was left on my desk to the take the picture, and another is for still in the Pulp game box as a now-dead NPC guard.

Coming Soon:  After completing two different projects on the same night, I not promising a thing. In a perfect world I should be cleaning up the lingering projects before I get slammed with Reaper Bones 3 and Psi-Paladins and Techno Barbarians next.  That means finishing up the Das FleiderAffen German Gnomes for Gnome Wars, a few more Blue Martians/Goblins/Monkeymen. and some of the halfings from Ganesha's last Kickstarter.

Checking my Gnome Project Journal, I have the next big thing being some German Colonial Rifles (again, Pulp Figures).    My Polynesians do need an enemy (or in the case of Samoa, a hidden ally)....

More Second Samoan Civil War Research at a Snail's Pace.

With the millions of little projects that are distracting me, plus some recent conversation on restarting the Gnome Wars Tanga Campaign, it would behoove me to not forget about Samoa. 

 

 

The online readings were originally scant, but correct.  Since I started the Second Samaoan Civil War, the editing on informational sites like Wikipedia has became atrocious.  Battle details are now confused, nationalities of participants switched around, and, for some time, the First and Second Civil Wars were combined to occur in 1889

 

I need to do a research vacation in an archive or a half-decent library.  It's a mess.

 

Mandatory Holiday Swag Post 2015

The It's a funny thing, as I reference last year's post with a similar name.  Just as much chaos as last year, just as much celebrating, just as much automatically waking up earlier each day (on a four day weekend to boot!), but in the end,  this year's festivities just seemed to work so much better.

A little bit more rest for the wicked this year, it seems.

This year, my wife was a bit more proactive with me getting her a wish list that didn't have hundreds of items on it that she and the local FLGS owner could decipher and put in an order two weeks before Christmas, only to have it show up via UPS at 3:30pm Christmas Eve.

This time, I cobbled together a quick personal Amazon wishlist of nine things that intrigued me.   She made her order through Amazon, and her selections arrived in three shipments, all within the the first week of December.

So let's start off with the oddball stuff...  My sister and brother in law thought best to go back to my thrash metal days with a brand a coffee sold by the drummer from Anthrax:

A Slayer ornament to remember the reason for the season:

...and a Cthulhu Coffe Mug.

My wife's cousin and I exchanged similar gifts.  He got me Cardcassonne and he got Tsuro.

Upon opening up my gifts from my wife, I discovered she didn't just get me four or five items from my wishlist.  She ordered the whole damn thing.

Next time I'm putting twenty on the list.

Dungeon Roll.  Maja likes to play it when we visit friends, and the lastest printing made the chits twice as big.

Cthulhu Invictus and the Cthulhu Invictus Companion. I'm a huge fan of Golden Goblin Press and jumped onto their De Horrore Cosmico Kickstarter without even owning the books.  I've now remedied that situation.

I haven't played Car Wars the Card Game since after my Senior Prom in 1992, and I decided against tacking it on my Car Wars Arenas pledge.  This too has been remedied.

Out of all the Ospreys on my main wishlist, I picked this one for some early research for a very longterm project.  I'm much more into the New Guinea side than Gallipoli, but entire book is very nice.

I've also bit the Frostgrave bug with my next gift.   A mage centric version of Mordheim, where everything could be expanded or improved upon, but you know what? Nothing necessarily needs to be changed to make the game a playable and fun experience.  

Before Frostgrave, there were the AARs of  Song of Blades and Heroes and it's offspring from Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog.  

Which leads the surprise winner of the haul, Osprey's Of Gods and Men, another whim item.   As I'm looking for a ruleset to use with the Frost Giants and Viking Mouslings from the Bones III Kickstarter.  I like the basic mechanics and the three levels troop types (Gods, Legends, and Mortals).

Since Andrea Sfiligoi wrote this and Song of Heroes, I expect some similarities in style when I get to reading that.

Finally, I got a Reaper Bones 'Telephone Box' to complement the pile of Dr Who stuff my six year old got from friends, family, and Santa.

The biggest gift I got was from my in laws:  A complete beer homebrewing set.  All the boxes are on a pallet beside my painting bench.  I guess it's a sign from God that I need to stay in the basement all winter long!

A four day weekend, a pile of food left over after two fourteen person feasts at the house on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, my wife loves all her gifts, three viewings of Star Wars (once with the girls), and the household animals are behaving?   Close to the best Christmas I've had since I was a kid.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What Should I Run for Mepacon Fall 2015

So, a mess of work and family functions forced me to first cut short my visit to Mepacon Spring 2015
and ultimately cancel what little I could get to.

The Fall version of the convention will not suffer the same fate!   My assistant is already scheduled to work the weekend and I've scrapped any chance to visit Fall-In! the weekend prior.

While I haven't talked over anything with the con staff, let me assume that I will be working inside the Kid's Track for convention events.  Sure, grown-ups can play too, but there's a large contingent of 7-12 year-olds that need to be placated less than the adult Magic or 40K tourney players.   This also allows me to bring my eldest daughter, Maja, to her third convention, and keep an eye on her at the same time.

The last piece of the puzzle.  The theme for the convention is Star Wars. 

Let's figure out what I should run!

Star Wars RPG Jr (West End d6) - "Where's Lando"  An even simpler version of d6, perfect for ages 6 and up.   Pre-ESB Cloud City.  Bounty hunters have arrived and are tearing up the joint.  Who are they looking for?  And where's Lando?   Six Players

Star Wars RPG Jr (West End d6) -  "Attack of the Droids (Working Title)"   A droid army has attacked Cloud City!   Can a bunch of kids find the secret base and stop them where the adults could not?  Six Players

Gnome Wars -  Battlerama  - I've run Gnome Wars plenty of times at the con, both historical and non.  The non-historical games always get players, despite the fact that both have gnomes on the board.

Gnome Wars - The Battle of Yellowstone -  I've run this at Fall-In!  with great success.  The game covers the US Cavalry's management of Yellowstone National Park from  1886 until 1918.  Not only does it handle ten players, but each player's faction runs a solitaire sub-game to keep them busy.

T.I.A.R.A - The Search for the Tiara of Ninja Awesomesauce! -  T.I.A.R.A. has been a very fluid set of rules I've used with the girls over the last four years to cover role-playing.   It's a great "yes" system that will allow for some crazy mixture of Disney Princesses, Warhammer goblins, ninja turtles, and perhaps a few Samoans in a magic-fueled Pulp game, or even an ongoing story throughout Friday and Saturday. 

If I decide to avoid the kids track, let's try something different:

Contemptible Little Armies -  Second Samaon Civil War:  I've run this at Cold Wars satisfactorily.    British, American, and Samoan Royalists versus Samoan Rebels (and a few fictional German allies for fun)

Diplomacy -   "Terminal Velocity" Diplomacy  with each round getting shorter and shorter to fit a four hour time slot. 

Call of Cthulhu - Attack of the Reptile Bikini Women... in 3-D!!!  Fun, B-Movie style CoC mixed with Texas Fried Rock.  Completely stealing this from an issue of Worlds of Cthulhu magazine.

I'm not running playtests of the Gnomish Space Marine RPG.  I need something bigger than running games of my cannibalized homebrew sci-fi system of choice.

And now for something completely different:

Painting Clinic:  How to Paint a "Three Foot" Figure.  The con already has a free paint-and-take and the guys who run it do a good job, but they only have so much time for each person.  This would be open to ages 10 and up and cover how to turn basic block painting into a beautiful figure... from three foot away.  I think I can wrangle some figures for ad space or something close and it would be a great  two hour session.

My Gaming Plans for 2015

I've got a house, two girls with piles of activities, and increasing job duties at work.  What can I actually shoot for in 2015?

Car Wars:  Very little has gotten me excited about gaming like the prospect of designing a Car Wars game based on the Food Trucks around GenCon.  Can't wait for the reprint of the basic game!  I am looking at hall rentals to make this a Steve Jackson-esque con, akin to my birthday one.

Gnomish Catch Up:  The painting assault of 2014 needs to continue into 2015.  Without any major project to work on, I'll be skipping around in the current queue for a bit, but a good portion of the year should be the restoration of damaged Gnome Wars figures and some detail on my half finished Germans that have lingered like that for years.  I also plan on a Krig Rumet that supports mini wargaming, so I can my Oesster Surfian Campaign, a Rommel Great War Campaign, and finally finishing up Tanga.

Call of Cthulhu:  We had huge gap between sessions, but interest in our Masks campaign is at an all time high (it is the only game in town for many).  Do I dare tempt fate and say that I would like to play in, or run if need be, a game of Invictus?

Samoa: The Next Step: The great thing about painting up all the Samoans is that I can pop them of the shelf and have a skirmish any time I want to.  Village raids were commonplace, so a few huts and that's all I need.  Of course, I could work on the Siege of Apia, or I can delve into the what if category with a few more German troops and some very surprise Great War New Zealanders.

Home:  Despite some drawbacks with 5th Edition D&D, it has given me some ideas to adjust for my "Home" campaign.

Magic:  Possibly, some day, maybe, I'll play a game of this again.  Till then I'll peruse the books at the FLGS and pick up a few nostalgic cards before I feel nostalgic a decade from now and they turn from pricey to prohibitive.

My Girls: Both girls will be attending both Mepacons this year, so I guess my events will evolve from all-ages to kid centric.  Plastic tanks and giant princesses shall rule the day, and I once I find a nice pre-D&D rules-lite system I may do some two-hour time slots.

Conventions:  Beside Mepacons, I am only shooting for Cold Wars this year and I might be a paying attendee.  I don't feel inspired to run anything this time and I only have a month and a half to think of it.   It might be nice to simply be a player and have a little more freedom

Late Edition to the Master Plan:  The Gnomish Space Marines.  My latest ebay purchase of random sci fi figs did rekindle some attention for my gneric sci fi game.  I'll still need a few cheap auctions on eBay, or bite the bullet and order some scrunts from Bob Olley, but after everyone dies enough time during Masks, some light hearted fun may be in order.

Viscount Eric's Day of Gaming AAR

Lordy, Lordy, ViscountEric's forty!

So, if this is the first post you've ever read from this blog, my wife decided to rent a local fire hall for the whole day for my birthday present, and I sent an open invitation to the world to come on down, play games, and eat cake.   It was not GenCon, but it was the most fun I've had in a looong time. 

I got to the fire hall at 7am, brought in the forty pounds of food my wife cooked, and set up the hall, save for the folding chairs.  I figured early on that until the "mundane" friends and family came by in the late afternoon, we would keep a policy of "Welcome, come on in.  Grab a chair off the rack."  It saved us from putting away an extra 30 chairs that night, and I had a lot of help mid-afternoon to set up the dozen or so chairs we needed at the time, and it was done in a matter of seconds.

With the food in the fridge, a danish and Mountain Dew in my gullet, I set up mostly round tables with two groups of long tables:  one for my Samoa game, which was ready at 8:30, and one for Cinderella's castle and a pile of toys for the kids. 

The fire hall was large, spacious, and had free soda (including white birch beer) included in the contract.  Unfortunately, it was also out of the way for my guests (who travelled as far as Philly and the New York state line) the acoustics were horrible unless you were sitting around a table.   We only had a handful of people by the time the first session was supposed to start.  No, let's be honest, we only had three people at 9am, myself, my friend Brian, and Jon, a very nice fellow who discovered the event on Meetup and volunteered to run "Basic/Classic" D&D for the "A" slot.  Since Jon could only be there in the morning I made it my mission to get the D&D game run, but as we waited, my other friend Steve showed up and broke the gaming ice.  Steve's mission that day was to play as many of the games he had picked up via Kickstarter and never actually played, so he pulled out Dugeon Roll. It was a great little fantasy dice game with a very Cosmic Wimpout aura to it. 

By the time we were done with that quick game, we had EIGHT players for Jon's game.  While I was adamant we would run his game, between nostalgia and the fact that some random dude wanted to game at my birthday party, it was the counters that sealed the deal.   Apparently, Jon's main gaming outlet was using Rolld20 on Skype and that uses counters for the visual portion of the game.  Counters, that can be customized: 

Yes, that's a gnome and 70's Lee Majors fighting horse jockey Orcs.

The game was a blast, with its fun counters, small and very handy pieces of scenery, and eight players dedicated to having a ball.  My wife had shown up with the kids to deliver the second wave of party supplies and set-up the donut trays, so I had to jump out of the game from time to time, but I had fun every second I was sitting there.

After we successfully rescued the mayor's son and killed off a magic...Sleestak(?),  more players came in and we had 3(!) tables going.  The Old Guard hid in a back table and tried to recreate the days of our youth, when we had more hair and it was not gray, by breaking out Battletech.    Brian had brought the new introductory boxed set and Scott had brought a drool-level mini case full of old Ral Partha figures.    Teaching Steve as we went along, we played a 3-on-3 game that included a failed Death from Above, and AC20 blast in the center torso of the previously mentioned jumping mech, a mech shutdown on a 10+, and a conga line of back shots that all missed.  Don't mess with the Urbanmech, until it's out of ammo.

By that time, we quickly set up a few chairs and I attempted to help my wife lay out the food.  Another couple groups of gamers came in, mixed it up with the rest, including another round of Dungeon Roll.  My daughter's started to get antsy and we went over to the toy table and did a quick (45 minute) game of TIARA.  I had intended a Gnome Wars "Assault Cinderella's Castle" game at some point, but the girls had taken the the shoebox building, built a gate/bridge between them using some rulers and parked a truck in the middle.  I tried to bust through the gate using my Burning Plastic armor and jets, but it was too tough.  When I finally did breakthrough with some jets,  a large Sully (Monsters Inc) action figure knocked them out of the air, King Kong style.

After the family came in and we did food and cake (forty candles is only appropriate when the fire trucks are 50 foot away in the same building).  James Burns, one of the Mepacon regulars had come down with a "tub o' boardgames" and we learned the Legendary card game for Marvel.    The pet peeve amongst the players was that the game was significantly tougher the more players you added.

Finally, as it neared quarter to eight, Droz and Steve took sides on my Samoa table, only 11 hours late.  I tweaked the movement of the allies (d6 through the jungle), and the allied artillery wiped out two whole units of rebels, which subsequently became ambush snipers in the jungle.  Droz managed to shake off the rebel spearmen with only minor casualties (outside of the British Sailors, whose courage will be sung in Samoan legends forever more) and they called the game as the Americans were huddled with their Samoan loyalists, pondering an assault on the trenches.

"Steady boys...."

My thanks to James Burns and his girlfriend/fiancee, for bringing their tub o' games.
Thanks to Mike Sarno, who survived a three hour drive both ways with a car full of tween girls. 
Thanks to my friend Kenny, a mundane, who did enough research to get me a Reaper Electronic Gift Certificate.
Thanks to Droz, Brian, and Steve, for not only participating in the Samoa game, but cleaning up and chatting till after 10pm, even though all of you had LONG rides home.
Thanks to everyone not mentioned for coming and celebrating my day. 

And most importantly, thanks to my wife Michelle, for the whole idea of the fire hall, the ridiculous amounts of food.  I could not have asked for a better birthday, at 40, 41, or 141.

ViscountEric's Horns of the Buffalo

Earlier, I had set up a poll on my blog, simply asking, "What should my next project be?"  The poll ended, and what do you know, there was a tie.  That tie, coupled with feedback I received about the blog while I was at Cold Wars, resulted in a three way tie.

• Samoa - The con games went off without a hitch, it's fairly unique, and I enjoy painting the figures.  I could split this off into two distinct projects: (a) The Siege of Apia, which might require a few more Samoan spearmen, and a LOT of buildings and (b) A "What-if?" game for Fall-in!'s Great War theme.  "What if German/Samoan forces were significant enough to resist the New Zealand occupation. I'd need to find New Zealand ANZAC figs in bulk and on the cheap, but this one might be fun.  Regardless, it's time to become the lone Samoa expert in HMGS.
• Gnome Wars - Like I could avoid this?  Outside of a LOT of touch up and some major repainting of figures, I'd be looking into a unit of French so I could run the Skirmish Elite Great War Campaign with a Young Erwin Rommel to celebrate the 100th Anniversary. 
• Teddy Bear Pirates.. and Beyond!  With the purchase of the Teddy Bear Pirates, the girls went totally ballistic and have been bugging me to start painting them already.  I also had demand from some readers I met at Cold Wars for more Daddy/Daughter gaming, and this fits the bill perfectly.  With a few ships, Teddy Bear and Gnome enemies, and some Mage Knight treasure chests, I can easily throw together something small at a moments notice.  Then, Mike Lung caught wind of my plan  and sent me this:

Of course, I took this for my new picture on the front of my blog.  It covers the feel for my recent gaming, and direction I want it go further, perfectly.  Major plug to Travis Hanson, who Mike first discovered on www.deviantart.com.  I'll have a whole write-up of the fellow in the near future.  I sense a bit of the Eureka Teddy Bears in his art, a bit of the Gnome Wars fun feel, and a vibe that would scream "Let's Go Exploring"  in another cartoon.  I haven't even read anything and I'm hooked.  Hopefully I'll get the girls hooked in short order.

(Cold Wars) The First Battle of Vailele AAR

My final post from Cold Wars is the AAR for my scheduled game, the First Battle of Vailele from the Second Samoan Civil War using Contemptible Little Armies.

Physical Set-Up:  Special thanks to Mike Lung who provided the trees, the beach, and the snazzy water.  Blue cellophane, whodathunkit?    Two minor problems were the picket fence I was using was not the type I remember as a child that you could make a small fenced in areas or large straight stretches.  A drop of glue remedied the situation.  The second issue were the makeshift trenches that I had constructed last weekend.  For quickly dug trenches on a berm, they fit the bill, but using a cardstock base isn't wise when you're using fast-dry clay to sculpt it.  One picture here will show how the cardstock warped.  If I expected perfection, I would have dropped to much money for pre-painted trenches that wouldn't be appropriate for the scenario.  Oh well, c'est la vie.

Game Set-Up:  Following the historical events of the Siege of Apia, the American and British forces secured the capital and began organizing Samoans still loyal to the crown for military action against the rebel forces of Mata'afa.  Their first large offensive would be an attack on a rebel stronghold at the old German banana plantation of Vailele.    They marched up the coast from Apia, trading skirmish fire with rebels until ultimately reaching the plantations.  After a British naval bombardment of the fortifications, the troops moved forward.

Order of Battle
Samoan Loyalists and their Allies - Objective:  Seize and hold one of the trenches for one turn.
Royal Navy Sailors (8) Tactical 4 - Morale 4
            Lt Angel Hope Freeman - treat as commander-in-chief

United States Marines (12)   Tactical 5  - Morale 5  Marksman
            Lt Philip Lansdale - treat as a Staff Officer per the rules

Samoan Loyalists (2 units of 10)  Tactical 4 - Morale 3
Samoan Morale - first morale test failure, the unit moves d6 inches away from closest enemy,  on a second failure they move 2d6 inches away, and if not rallied by an officer with two turns will automatically rout.

Mata'afan Rebels - Objective: Prevent the Loyalist's objective
Mata'afan Elite Guard (8)   Tactical 4 - Morale 4
Samoan Rebels (3 units of 10)  Tactical 4 - Morale 4
One commander-in-chief and one staff officer

Rebel Reserves  - Reserves could not make an appearance until after the naval bombardment finished
Samoan Rebels (10)  Tactical 4 - Morale 4
Samoan Rebel Spearmen (2 units of 10)  Tactical 3 - Morale 4  Ferocious

One note on the officers for this game.  The British and American officers were represented by two Great War infantry figures.  I did this for two reasons (1)  I admit, I got lazy trying to find the appropriate figure without buying an entire new unit and (2) This allowed them to stick out, thus preventing them from being moved accidentally with an adjacent unit.  I did get positive responses from this, although for future games I will correct this anachronism.  The Rebel officers were represented by German Schutztruppe, the C-in-C in Tropical Dress Whites, the staff officer in khaki.  No Germans were actually reported in the battle, but there was some influence among the rebel leaders.

Vailele, April 1, 1899

The rebels deployed their units as expected, two in the trenches, one hiding in the banana trees, and one unit in reserve in the plantation house.  The loyalists took up only half the board, with the British sailors protecting the flank. 

US Marines, Samoan Loyalists, and British Sailors cut through the jungle

 After a turn of getting used to the CLA, the first bomb dropped, quite literally. The naval barrage commenced, hitting to the left of the one trench, but still killing two rebels.  The following turn it hit the other trench, killing six rebels, but sparing the staff officer.  The player's unit decided against the trench and pulled his unit next to the plantation house.  The unit took a morale hit, but the staff officer quickly removed it.

Naval Guns did the trick in some trenches...

 While the rebels adjusted, the Marines could only push forward faster if they were cavalry on open ground.  Faster than anyone could imagine, they were at the tree line, staring down the rebels and waiting for the Samoans to catch up before beginning their assault.

That would be easier said than done, as a lone shot rang out from the jungle, hitting Lt Angel Hope Freeman right in the head.  A second sniper opened up, but the loyalists continued their slow trudge through the jungle.  They weren't stopped until twenty Samoan rebels, armed only with melee weapons charged through the underbrush.  The British caught the brunt of the first ten, and by the time a unit of Samoans could get into position to counterattack, only two staggered behind the line to recover.  Despite not breaking morale, they were quickly picked off by the snipers.

The Loyalists were far braver than they were historically, trading blow for blow with these rebels until the last of the wildmen scurried back into the jungle.

The flank gets caught in an ambush, but the Marines keep pushing

Samoans race to secure the abandoned trench

 The Marines decided to forgo support and slowly assaulted the trench.  Their Marksmen skill (firing 6 inches further without any penalties) was offset by the protection the trench offered.  The rebels finally pulled their unit out of the plantation house to support the trench.

Of course, there was still the abandoned trench in the middle of battlefield.  It  was a  race between the Samoan Loyalists charging towards it, and the out of position Elite Guard, who attempted to flank them, but unfortunately needed to charge the trench in an attempt to expel them.    The Loyalist held, the Elite Guard fell back, conceding victory.  Lt Lansdale, who had been nearby the Loyalists in support ran over the trench post battle.  I'm certain he earned a medal for being the only white combatant who reached the trenches, even if the Samoans did all the work.

...and fight off Mata'afans Elite Guard to win the battle.

Historically, the naval support was ineffective and the Loyalist forces trudged through the jungle until they were ambushed by hundreds of rebels hiding there.  In game, I ruled the Marines had moved so fast that they got to the tree line before the rebels had gotten into position. I still had at least another rebel unit to appear in the jungle, but decided against bringing them out.

The only revisions I might make into the game are some slight variations to the naval barrage, and perhaps either dropping the morale of the Samoan Loyalist, or making them Irregulars, thus decreasing their hand-to-hand effectiveness.

For a six player game, it played with ten very smoothly.  One of the secret reasons I ran this game was to avoid the "amateur expert" who (supposedly) knows more about the subject than anyone else.  Ironically, the game did draw one fellow who professed an interest in the subject.  However, he was the best type of the amateur expert, nodding accordingly as I gave the back story, and even smiling early as I covered some amusing anecdotes, such as discussing the naval losses of the First Samoan Civil War.  All in all I was very pleased with the game and hopefully I'll work towards a historically accurate version of the Siege of Apia for next year's Cold Wars. 

(Cold Wars) The Siege of Apia Using Gnome Wars

Cold Wars had four different Gnome Wars events.  Two went off without a hitch, one was cancelled but rose again in a new form, and one was invitation only late night silliness.

As I said in my general post about the con, Jim's sudden cancellation worried us all, but its not too selfish to say we were delighted that he showed up on Saturday to cap off a great weekend. 

The loss of the only Gnome Wars event was too much to bear, so Mike Lung put our heads together, and the resulting game was pure genius.

Last year at Cold Wars I ran the fictional Battle of Apaula Heights, which,  if you compare it to my Saturday Second Samoan Civil War game with "real" miniatures, looks surprisingly similar.  I figured I would take a chance and assemble a rough layout of the Siege of Apia.  If the game went well, I could start thinking about what I would need for a "real" version. 

Minor rant time:  I hate hate hate hate HATE the numerous condescending remarks that we hear around the Gnome Wars tables.  They may look silly, they may have bier stein grenades and cheese throwers, but the figures are well done, the boards usually rival the award winning ones (if Jim Stanton doesn't win an award himself), and I see just as many idiotic tactics and actions on the "proper historical" boards.  Hell, if you played in the games I either ran, or helped co-GM, you could have learned about (a) Tanga 1914 (b) Tulgas 1918 (c) Samoa 1899 (d) Saragarhi 1897 (e) Roarke's Drift 1879 and (f) the US Cavalry involvement in Yellowstone Park 1886-1916.   Thank you for your time.

One more thing - this event slot for "The Sikh Stronghold" was for 8 players (plus anyone who brought their own Brigade Games Gnome Wars unit) and slotted for ONLY 2 hours!  We were going to need to move quickly if we were to finish anything.

Backstory in Layman's Terms: 1899. The Western Powers (Britain, Germany, and the United States) have held a shaky agreement regarding commercial interests on the islands of Samoa.  When the King dies, the already volatile process of electing a new king is heavily influenced by these countries.  Germany gleefully transports exiled rebel leader Mata'afa back to Samoa to brew even more dissent.  As the violence grows, members of the government flee the capital of Apia  for the safe haven of their own villages.  Only the Chief Justice of the Samoan Supreme Court remains as a figure of authority.  In an attempt to diffuse the situation, he declares a date for the tribal election of the kings, and rules that all eligible to be considered, with the lone exception of Mata'afa.

This does not go over well...

Historically,the Mata'afan followers show up at the Judge's home for some nefarious purpose.  The Judge catches whiff of this and runs for his life to the safety of the British warship in Apia Harbor.   In our game, things are very similar conceptually, but thing look a bit different.

The Government
The Judge - Objective:  Reach the British or Swiss ships in harbor OR reach the British Consulate without getting captured.  In melee the Judge rolls d8 vs the opponent, and if he wins, he eludes capture and moves an additional three inches.  The Judge may also self-heal himself (5+ on a d8) at the end of the turn, if he is shot.

The Rebels
Mata'afan Rebels (3 units of Eureka frogs) - Objective:  Capture the Judge and control as many buildings as possible.  The frogs move 7 inches and shoot, or run 14.  All rifles have a maximum range of 24 inches. Once a unit is completely annihilated, it may respawn in full back at it's initial starting point.  This ability goes away once the British and Swiss come ashore.

The Confederates (aka German "Advisors") - Objective - Seize the Hotel Tivoli.   Keep the British and Swiss from getting involved.

Apia Harbor, Samoa - I switched the Sikhs to the British Consulate five minutes before game time

The Loyalists

Russians (2 units) one defending the Hotel Tivoli, one defending the Dock Warehouse.  Objective:  Defend and expel the rebels from the town.

The Confederates march alongside the banana plantation

The Western Influence
Sikhs at the British Consulate  - Objective:  Protect the British Consulate

British Marines aboard a warship - Objective:  Clear the town of the rebel scourge.  They may not disembark their vessel until either (a) the Judge reaches it (b) the news of the Consulate falling under attack reaches them.  2d6 per turn after the first shot is fired there, they may leave the ship the turn after their rolls cumulatively reach 20.

Swiss Infantry - aboard a warship - Objective:  Clear the town of the rebel scourge.  They may not disembark their vessel until either (a) the Judge reaches it (b) the news of the Hotel Tivoli falling under attack reaches them.  2d6 per turn after the first shot is fired there, they may leave the ship the turn after their rolls cumulatively reach 20.

The Confederates

Apia (L to R) Judge's home, Hotel Tivoli, Dock Warehouse, British Consulate

Wild Cards
Pirates!!!!!!!   - Not historically accurate, but that is the fun of playing with gnomes.  The pirates are looking to take advantage of any situation within the chaos.

British Highlanders - are there to keep the Pirates in check, as well as defend British interests, whatever they deem them to be.


The Game
The Judge sees the oncoming mob and decides to high-tail it to the Hotel Tivoli, but the frogs are way too fast.  They surround the Judge, but he is slipperier than a greased pig in a July county fair and hides on the hotel's porch (successfully eluding 3 different men... err.. frogs.)    The Russians by the warehouse move up to help the Judge, while the ones inside the Hotel trade horrific fire with the other units marching out of the jungle.

The Judge high tails it out of Apia, but the frogs are fast...

The Judge eludes the rebel frogs, the Russians clean up the mess.

The Judge runs behind the Russians and slowly works his way towards the docks.  The rebel frogs all around the town are gunned down, but the second wave of them charges the Hotel and the British Consulate.   Three waves of frogs climb the stairs to the second floor of the hotel.  The first was cut down to a man by a lone Russian. The second managed to make it onto the floor before getting gunned down.  The third finally evicted the remaining Russians out of the hotel.

The second wave of frogs reaches the second floor

...and the third wave finally takes it.

The British Highlanders and Pirates traded some quick blows, and once the Pirate Captain was killed, the threat quickly dissipated.  The Highlanders, not knowing the political scene, worked a uneasy truce with the Rebels, pushing the Russians out of the town square where the hotel was and toward the British Consulate.

Over at the British Consulate, the Sikh Guards were getting slaughtered left and right, their only saving grace was that the attacking rebel frogs failed a morale check and routed (only to be redeployed 30 inches away).  Four surviving Sikhs did think about leaving the compound, but the arriving Russians lifted their spirits and they defended against one more deadly wave of attacks.   

The rebels decide to attack the British Consulate

 When the smoke cleared, only a handful of Russians had survived, and nary a Sikh, except for the one the was forgotten inside the building. 

The survivors: One Sikh guard and eight Russians

The arrival of the British Marine and Swiss forces into the town was negated by the strong position of the rebels and their new ally, the rogue Highlanders.  The marines were cut down quickly and the Swiss decided it was better to secure the docks. 

Our Judge friend?  He decided to go on a well needed self-imposed exile, I mean, vacation.


"Take me to Tahiti, it's a magical place!"

In all, we had ten players and finished the entire scenario in just under two hours.  I'll need some more building, trees, and a cool judge mini that looks good in Samoan skin tones, but I think this scenario is definitely workable in the "proper" setting.

Many thanks my friend, Mike Lung, for providing the frogs, trees, cool water, and co-GMing duties and pictures.