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.

Bob Olley German Colonial Sea Batallion Scrunts

I already posted some of the sculpts for the future Scrunt Kickstarter that Bob Olley posted on Facebook. 

 

Here are some for the German Colonial Sea Battalion. 

 

I already had Tanga on the tip of my tongue this week.  I think these might be a must have, and it's guaranteed I'll get them faster than my Reaper Bones, which still haven't shown up at my old (i.e. Mother-in-Law's) address.

Hopefully, by the time your seeing these, I'm on my way to Lancaster for Cold Wars.  Reports from the con will be  dependent on time, wi-fi availability, and when the appropriate statutes of limitation run out.

(Throwback Thursday) Cold Wars '99

I had previously attended Cold Wars in Lancaster as a flea market vendor and a cheap college student sliding into the dealer hall under false pretenses on Sunday morning, but Cold Wars '99 was my first HMGS con as a normal participant.

The theme for Cold Wars was “Battleground China” and that meant a slew of Boxer Rebellion and Russo-Japanese games.

For the regulars who attend the HMGS cons today, you might be surprised by the simplicity of the digest-sized on-site book:

A few ads, over 200 events, excluding tournaments, and outside of a select few car racing or non-GW Middle Earth game, everything else was very historical!

My first game was COL246 55 Minutes at Peking – Theme Event – GM Ed Watts, based on the rules from an ancient issue of Wargames Illustrated. It was a spectacular set-up, with so much terrain, that we had no clue what was going on at the consulates on the other side of the table. I think I played the second half of a split unit of Americans (French perhaps?) and we did nothing but hold our ground as the Austrians and Russians ran through the board in a panic, yet killing all the Boxers they encountered.

The second event I can’t find in the on-site book. It was a Boxer Rebellion game covering the relief expedition heading to Peking. If I learned anything from my first game, it was claim dibs on the Japanese. They were a small unit, but they were disciplined and kick-ass.

This was also my only foray into Carnage and Glory , the computer moderated game system. I provided the referee with my unit’s actions and once everything was entered, it churned out the results. Not a tremendous amount of fun, but my Japanese single-handedly cleared out the artillery emplacement in the center of the board. The referee also sounded exactly life Patrick Warburton, known for numerous roles (including something called… Seinfeld?) but I knew him as the live-action Tick.  

For my first historical wargaming convention, it was a hoot, plus I could proudly walk into my German class on Monday with my "Der Krieg mit China" t-shirt.

If it's too cold for you...

...it's too cold for your gnomes.  Bring them inside!

 

 

Here's hoping the weekend is the start of a much more tolerable month.

 

(Cold Wars Pregame) Getting Ready for Cold Wars

Here's hoping this means there will be lots of cavalry painted in the upcoming years, perhaps some Polish Winged Hussars.  Not my usual period, but girls will be girls.

 

The Winged Hussars are pretty sweet:  Warlord Games

 

 

(Cold Wars PreGame) Some Gnome Wars Events... Cancelled???

I knew there was a reason I left an open slot for blogging for the 3rd. 

Per Jim "The Gnome Guy" Stanton's Gnome Wars blog, the craziness of this winter did not escape him either.   Between an injury and his son (aka slave labor) not coming to the con, he's been forced to cancel all the Gnome Wars games, except for the Friday night joust.

While I make no guarantees, swing by the assigned tables and there will probably be a few Gnome Wars afficianados hanging around.  Perhaps we might even have some terrain for a game.

 

(Cold Wars Pregame) What is My Project for 2015???

One thing I've done to occupy myself while I'm stuck on the antiquated roads of Wilkes-Barre trying to get home, is use the voice recorder on my phone and talk about anything on my mind.  I'm not quite ready to make "Crap Eric Says in the Car (CESITC)" out in the public but it does keep my wandering eyes on the prize, as well and documents how many times I drop an F-bomb towards a fellow commuter.

Back in January, TMP had a topic of "What is your project for 2015."   Some of the people had lists of things that could not humanly get accomplished, others just wished to get a single 15mm tank platoon finished. 

With all the chaos at home, I'm grateful that this is the first year in many that I don't have any projects to finish up.  No British Marines.  No Sikhs.  No Yellowstone Park game to design.  No ships to paint.  And especially from last year, no giant pile of Samoans to assemble for an obscure game.   

This year I have a horrible secret:  I don't know what I want to do.

I'd like to get my Astro-Surfian War back up and running, but I that campaign can rely on figures I already own.

I'd love to expand the Samoan Civil War games to include some paper terrain to expand the tribal warfare, but that's not singing to me.  One dream is a great war game using German and ANZAC forces skirmishing outside of Apia. 

Usually, my Cold Wars wish list is gigantic and is pointed towards something.

*I will always need more MBA Middle Eastern Buildings.  If I could snag 3 buildings for under $100 it would be great.

*Most of the figures I'm interested will not have a representative at the Dealer's Hall, so unless someone is getting rid of their Hinterlands, their Tostlings, or even some Scrunts at the Flea Market, they get pushed way onto the back burner.  And if I'm ordering from England, I might as well get the "Post-Apoc Gang" from Hasslefree.   Hmmm.... maybe zombie with the kids?  Not yet.

*The Flea Market (Wally's Basement) would be a source for bulk sci-fi figures for the Gnomish Space Marines.  Brigade does carry some Space Goblins that have far cleaner lines than Gretchin and a full set would run $24.00.  If that doesn't work, hopefully I can find my muse for something else on one of those tables.

*Do I go Confederate gnomes from Brigade and use them as Mexicans and Mormons for my Cali Imperial Guard?  I'm also way behind on just picking out the figures.  The last time I was current, I picked up Gnomans at Historicon back when it was at Valley Forge.

*Brigade also has some US Marines to fit in a Banana Wars game.   Despite their cost per figure, I would get more use out of them versus a bag of Old Glory figs full of snipers.

*Despite Tanga still being on my radar, I would love some Eureka Rhodesian and other African bush war figs, but again, what would I do with them, and when would I play it?

On the RPG side, I removed Dagger from my wishlist, and I don't have any fear of a hard copy appearing at my FLGS anytime soon.  From the pdf version, it's far too simple for my girls, especially when you consider we had Dungeons and Ponies using 5th Edition!

Hopefully the Scavengers RPG will replace that as a new kid's game to chomp on.  If not, I snagged some freebies off of rpgdrivethru.com that could work.

I did get my "super-secret" reference book to help me flesh out the Gnomish Space Marines RPG.  It's everything I remember and a bit more!  I'll start with the details of system construction once I get back from the con.