3 Days at Historicon

Well I just got back from my first "overnight" game convention experience after attending three days at Historicon.  I must say that all the gibberish and hand-wringing concerning the convention on TMP and the impending demise of Historicon was way off-the-mark.  I had a blast and the Valley Forge Convention Center was definitely a big step up from the Host in Lancaster.  The convention center hotels (I stayed in the Radisson) were adequate (they're not a Four Seasons) but the pricing was reasonable.

I was able to play 3 games at the convention and help my friend Ernie both with his debut of Architects of War and put on his Black Powder game with the Perry brothers and John Stallard.  There may have also been some new lead acquisitions but the less said about that the better.

I really enjoyed the 2 pre-WWII dreadnaught games that I played which were put on by members of the Northern Virginia Gamers club (NOVAG) using their home grown rules.  I found the games to be a lot of fun and really liked the feel of the period.  In fact, I ended up purchasing a fair number of WWI ship models from GHQ and as a result have yet another period to game / model.  I will say the guys from NOVAG did a very nice job hosting the event and ensuring the form of the rules they used where both approachable and yet gave a good feel for the period.

The highlight of the con for me was helping with the "Black Powder in the Peninsular" game that was co-hosted by Architects of War, Warlord Games and the Perry Brothers.  The photo to the left is a picture of the 24' table with the scenery in place.  You can see a lot of the new terrain pieces from Architects of War on the table - especially the fortfication set, which is a very difficult location to assault!  My role in helping put the game on was to lug stuff around and help new players with the rules while playing.  I did a pretty good job on the lifting stuff part.

Here's a picture of the game masters.  From left to right Ernie Baker (AofW), Alan and Michael Perry and John Stallard.  Having the authors and main play testers of the rules moderate a game is fairly useful!  The game featured almost 2,000 of Ernie's personal collection of 28mm Napoleonic figures and had 6 players per side, each commanding a brigade.  My command in the game was to be one of the two brigades to assault the fortification in the center of the map.  My Brigade attacked the right side and another player attacker the left.  Technically, we were supposed to just screen the fort but got really good command roles and attacking is just a lot more fun!  The fort was defended by a brigade of British and a brigade of Portuguese infantry.  Oh yes, it had a ton of artillery too!

After the previously mentioned lucky command role, my brigade was able to make contact with the defenses on turn two.  My first assault was repulsed with moderate casualties on both sides.  In a subsequent turn I was able to renew the assault with the support of the reserve battalion and....

Breached the defenses!  The British brigade was quickly despatched but those damn Portuguese were superbly played and manage to hold the last third of the fort until the end of the game.  While the mechanics of Black Powder are elemental they lend themselves to both very quick play and a real feel for command trade-offs .  I really like the ruleset and recommend it highly.  It's not for everyone as there is moderate detail and a lot is left up for player discretion but for me gaming is as much a social experience as it is a competition and these rules blend the two nicely.  There will be a lot more (and better!) pictures from the game posted on both the Architects of War website as well as their blog.

Lastly, a picture of John Stallard and myself.  John's a great guy and very fun game host.  I think he may have missed his calling and instead of owning a miniature figure company he could have been a very successful game show host.  He's a very affable fellow but I do not recommend trying to keep up with him in a pub.

As for the debut of Architects of War,  Ernie reports they did a very brisk business at there stand and was very pleased with the reaction to their initial product line.  I was able to even make a sale or two!  Check out their website when it comes up in the next week or so.

All-in-all it was a great trip and I look forward to next year!