Historicon 2017 Day 1

 I ran my first game in the morning on Thursday and had a great group of test subjects - oops - I mean players.  I was really nervous as this was the first time I've run a game using rules that I wrote.  Of course I borrowed form other rule sets like Donnybrook, Bolt Action and others, but still it was a bit nerve wracking.

I was very fortunate the Mike and his son could make it down on Thursday to help out with the game.  Mike's been super busy at work and I was worried he couldn't make the con.  We'll start planning for next year in a few weeks.

 I also may have been a bit too zealous in keeping them to one page - the print was a little small!  The morning game was "DAK and Dragons"  We did discover that a Panzer III can, indeed, kill a Dragon but it was a very prolonged fight!

The objective for the game was for one side or the other to get into the catacombs and capture "Professor Ackbar" and then escort him off their map edge.  It seems the mad professor is trying to resurrect the dreaded Mummy King.

 The game play moved very quickly and everyone seemed to grasp the basics after the second turn.

 First team into the catacombs.  Everywhere there's a yellow dot, something happens when a team gets within 6 inches - usually something with sharp swords or large teeth.

More teams making it underground.

The French get their FT-17 stuck in a doorway and now need to find a new way out while being chased by Gnolls.

 The throne room has been breached! and professor Ackbar is in sight - but he has some friends guarding him

 A single surviving German figure manages to get Ackbar out after several rounds os see-saw combat .  This game went to the Axis but it was touch and go.

 My first group of players and myself on the right.  Game one was a blast to run and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  One of the benefits of GM'ng is you get to meet a lot of great people and strike up friendships.  One of my favorite players is Florence, of "the Notorious Flo" as I've named her.  She is a lovely person and a fantastic player.  And, yes, she commanded the Panzer III that put down the dragon!

 Game two started at 3:00.  It was the same game concept but we used modern figures rather than WW2, hence the name change to "SOCOM and Sorcery"

 The Throne Room was first breached by the Taliban

 One player figured out he could access the thrown room from the pyramid and sent a US marine team to snatch the professor away from the weekend Taliban as they were' being shredded by the Devours of Amnant (the croc-guys)

 The Professor was bundled into a HUMVE and driven off the map - victory to the coalition!

I also acquired a self appointed jr GM (Connor, the young man giving the Thumbs-Up).  He insisted on rolling for the monsters and ended up correcting me on the rules I had written.  He was usually right.  I had a lot of repeat players during the con which is a sign people liked the game.  Cody, the young man in the Yellow T-Shirt was the first.

I ran a third game but forgot to take pictures.  That was roughly 10 hours of GM'ng on Day1.

 Now for some pic's of other games - amazing Russo-Japanese War ship models.  I love wandering around the con and looking at what other people create - so many fun ideas and standards to aspire too.

 An old Architects of War resin well.  There's some nostalgia there...

 This table had amazing Frostgrave terrain - it's a modeling standard that I aspire to but haven't achieved yet.

 wow!

 A thirsty foot long Team Yankee table - look at all the Soviet tanks

 Lots and lots of Russians

 Not so many NATO opponents.  I did suggest to one of the GM's that they could simulate a tactical nuke by simply flipping over one of the panels.  That idea wasn't received as openly as I would have thought.

There was a lot of Team Yankee at the con and people seemed to be really enjoying it.

 Dave S's brilliant tank battle table

I really regret not getting a chance to play this game.

There were a lot of Cigar Box Games battle mats at the con.  I used three of them for my desert terrain - it's just SOOOO much easier to transport terrain cloths than panels to a con.  I like how this able used the ones that have printed trees and other details.

Stealing ideas for a Jungle themed terrain.

 A whimsical Pirate themed table.  I picked up some Pirate stuff from the Blood and Plunder line and have been thinking about a Pirate game for Historical 2018...

Just thinking at the moment...

I was really excited to win an award and ended the day exhausted but really happy.  A lot of work goes into making up a game and seeing the players have fun at the table is really rewarding.

Historicon 2017 - What a blast!

 Historicon 2017 is in the books and I had a blast.  I didn't play in any games but did run GM my game 10x over the 3 day fest and really enjoyed my self.

This post will have some shots for the Wed night set up, which includes the initial terrain set up at the right.  Over the course of the next few days I'll post reports about each day and then wrap up with some final thoughts.  Organizing and running convention games is a difficult task - but is a fun kind of difficult and an aspect of the hobby I find very rewarding.

 The game descriptions - as you can see these were very serious historical simulations.  The two version of the game are essentially the same just one has WW2 units and one has Moderns.

Close up on the terrain - the buildings are from Crescent Root and are superb.

Some pictures of Ivor's fantastic table.

 Ivor, his son Jacob and Dave Skibibki.

 Dave S's table - this was by far the best setup at the con - amazing!

Just to brag a little - I did win an award!  But more on that late.....

Historicon 2017 - All Packed Up and Hitting the road

 I'm all packed up and ready to go.  Unlike most years, I can actually see out the rear window so that's a plus.

 Still, theres a lot of stuff crammed into the car.

 A lot of stuff indeed!

I leave the front passenger seat open for my personal stuff and any loot.

I am thinking of selling the mountain sections at the end of the con - any takers?

I should be in Fredericksburg in 2-3 hours, depends on how fast I finish up a few calls

Historicon Packing List

Well, I've run out of time to get ready for Historicon as I leave for the event tomorrow.  Pictured is the pack up from last year.

I've learned the hard way to leave the the travel day (wed) completely dedicated to packing up and making sure I've got everything.  I't also good to have a packing list so hear goes:

Terrain:
- 3 6ftx4ft terrain cloths from Cigar Box Miniatures
- 6 2' Mountain sections
- 4 desert oasis
- 6 dunes (these will go under the terrain cloths
- 10 Arab themed MDF buildings (these are the really nice pre-painted ones from Crescent Root
- 6 Egyptian runes (mostly aquarium terrain but it looks pretty darn good)
6 2ftx2ft catacomb panels - these are heavy and weigh 15-20 pounds each

Troops
DAK and Dragons
- DAK Panzer Grenadiers
- German Assault Engineers*
- Fallschirmjaeger
-Italians
- 8th Army
- LRDG
- French Foreign Legion
- US Marines

* funny thing about the inclusion of the combat engineers - I discovered at the last minute I didn't have enough 28mm DAK troops painted to field to full factions so some assault engineers have been included

SOCOM and Sorcery
- US Rangers
- US Marines
- British
- Aussies
- Taliban
- Insurgents
- Soviets
- Somali Pirates

"Bad Guys" for both games
- Berber Tribesmen
- Gnolls
- Cultists
- Skeletons
- Giant Scorpions
- Demons
- Giant
- Golem
- Armored Trolls
- Centaurs and an Armored Rhino
- Ammat Devourers (croc-Men)
- Mummies
- MummyKing and Servants
- Red Dragon (OK he really doesn't fit the theme but what the hell)
- Nasty surprises

Game Playing Supplies
- Dice and lots of them
- Tape measures
- 8 wooden troop trays
- Faction organization Sheets
- Player tracking tokens
- 1 page rules (game can't have more than one page of rules 'cause I can't remember any more)
- Troop stats summaries
- Game Signage
- Blast and cone templates
- 2 nice directors chairs for Mike and I - the convention chairs are OK but not good for multiple days
- Tools / etc
  - - Drill with 1/8 drill bit, screw bit and Philips head screws
  - - Shims (to level the table
  - - Mobile model kit (some paints, glue brushes for field repairs)
  - - Duct tape 'cause somebody always needs it
  - -  Rolling cart
  - - tie down straps

In the past I've packed up my troops in plastic boxes (Really Useful Boxes brand) without any packaging (foam).  It worked ok but the figures do get a little jostled around in transport.  I'm trying something new this year - I bought a bunch of 2inch high cardboard pizza boxes and will fit each with egg crate foam to better protect the troops.  We'll see if this works better.

I am nervous about using terrain cloths vs the nice sectional terrain but I just didn't have time to build a bunch of desert sections and transporting them is a pain.  Last year the section took up a little more than 20 cubic feet of storage space in my car.  The terrain cloths take up less than one all folded up so that's a lot of extra packing space!

Last minute terrain prep

A few desert oasis terrain to provide some light cover....

2 days to go!

Yikes!

Comment Moderation Turned on

It seems I need to turn comment moderation back on given some activity from spammers posting comments with links to various online casinos.  I'm sure it's all very legit - just like any day now that Nigerian Oil Minister is going to come through with my money.

I apologize for any inconvienances

Please do not click on online casino links.  I don't get a cut of the cash they'll steal from you and I don't think thats fair

The Mummy King and Friends

 The final figures for the Historical game are now painted - may I present to you the Mummy King and his retinue of mummy soldiers.  These are all metal casts from Reaper and are really very nicely sculpted figures.

 These will be used in a Boss level stye encounter for the end of the game - note to players don't try to take on the Mummy King without the help of another player or two.  Trust me on this one.

My departure for Historical is now 7 days away and I don't have a lot of prep time available given business and other commitments, so game prep is pretty much done.  Here's hoping we put on a good show.

Insects of Doom: Cicada Wasps

 One of our Tomatoe beds has had some rather scary looking residents move in - a colony of "Cicada Wasps".  These wasps nave black and yellow strips and are 2 to 2.5 inches long - that's 4 to 5 cm's for my metric friends.

They have very aggressive behavior, which given their size makes them a rather scary proposition.  Well scary until a little research.

 These Wasps have a brutal lifecycle - they hunt Cicadas and other larger flying insects which the males grab in flight.  Male Cicada Wasps don't have stingers - so while their aggressive, they can't hurt you that badly.  They still have large mandibles but rarely bite anything they can't fly away with.

The scientific name of these brutes is Sphecius speciosus - which I find a bit humorous.

 So what happens to the hapless Cicada or bumble bee that's caught.  Its kinda of a grim fate.  The new guest is brought back to the colony for dinner where It's introduced to the a female.  After a little chit chat, maybe some hot hordeovres, the female cicada wasps stings the cicada paralyzing it.

The now incapacitated guest is dragged further into the colony and the female lays one of two eggs on it and our poor cicada serves as a meal for the young as they hatch and mature.  A fascinating and ghastly example of the efficiency of animal day care.

While the females do have a very nasty stringer, they will rarely sting a human and these very scary critters are that dangerous.

I'm still trying to decide if I need too eradicate them from the garden.  I need a lot of bee activity for pollination and I have found a lot of info on how these critters interact.

I have seen the wasps go after bumble bees

 Of course my wife doesn't believe any of the information on the "low threat" and will not go in the corner of the garden they inhabit.

 These Wasps are fascinating to watch and are very colorful.

 Still, I get a little nervous when they land on my ears while I'm working in the garden.  For some reason my ears look like a Wasp rest stop.  It's happened every time I've gone in the garden without a hat.

I always wear a hat while gardening now....

Some of you might be asking - why in the hell is he gardening with Historicon just about a week away?  Fear not, progress is being made but there have been some setbacks.

The last terrain piece thats needed for the game takes shape...