Historicon Has Been Cancelled & Idiotic Musings from Me

 

The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) announced yesterday that their summer convention, Historicon'21, can not be held given the continuing restrictions in place for COVID-19 and the uncertainty of what restrictions will be required this coming July.  Given the trends, I just don't see how they could have made any other decision and commend the group for both making a tough call and doing so with a good notice period.  

It would also be very fair to say I'm really disappointed, I really enjoy these conventions and had personally set Historicon'21 as a bit of a benchmark for when things return to normal.  It was a little foolish to do so, but sometimes a desire for a return to "normal" outweighs the facts on display.  The lack of these conventions also reminded me of a time during my hobby journey where the three HMGS shows (Falli-In, Cold Wars and Historicon) were my primary venues to play games with other people and interact socially in the hobby.  I suspect that is still the case for a lot of people who aren't as fortunate as I am to have a club and close circle of friends to game with locally.  Now I will not bore you with "deep thoughts" and moralizing statements but I will say as this pandemic drags on that it's more important than ever just to be kind to other people - everyone is hurting in one way or another, some show it others don't but we're all worn down.  

Civility in your comportment is always a virtue but really never more so than now.  

It does seem as if this pandemic has elected to crawl across, rather than race across the finish line, doesn't it.

Still despite the loss of silly toy soldier shows things are definitely on the upswing and I consider myself impatiently optimistic, which is a bit out of character for a CFO/Investor type who specializes in crisis management (and looks dashing in green eye-shades).  By the way, when one becomes a CFO, you are issued a designer set of green eye shades along with the secret handshake.  Its all very Illuminate-like and hush-hush.  I best not go into the details for security reasons and you'll all just be jealous of the glitzy, jet-set lifestyle we CFO's secretly lead.

I didn't say Historicon was canceled above because in a welcome bit of scheduling sleight of hand, HMGS has changed the name of it's Fall event from Fall-In to Historicon and will be adding an extra day (from 3 to 4 days) to match the planned length of the summer event.  That is welcome news and I've now declared "Historicon-Fall" as my new talisman for a return to normalcy.  The "delay" in Historicon also provides a little bit more time to make the Stalingrad game even better.  I wonder if they'll allow me to use tiny pyrotechnics during a game session?  I'm sure they will and more importantly I shouldn't bother the convention runner with silly questions as they are very busy adjusting plans for this Fall.  Besides, what could go wrong with tiny pyrotechnics in a packed gaming hall, right?

Historicon 2020 is Cancelled

HMGS recently announced via an email to the membership that their flagship event, Historicon, has been cancelled given all of the issues associated with COVID-19.  Historicon is, traditionally, the highlight of my gaming year and an event I really look forward to.  Readers of this blog are normally bombarded with Historicon prep posts at this time of year as I frantically get ready to put on a game. 

To be honest, I'm a bit relieved that the HMGS board made the decision to cancel the con.  I had made a personal decision to skip this years event out of health concerns voiced by my wife - who is a Dr and is pitching in to treat COVID patients.  That said, I was also wavering on my decision as I really enjoy the convention and putting on games.  It's my only chance in life to pretend I'm a ringmaster in a three ring circus.  I want to thank the HMGS board for making the right decision and canceling the event and preventing me from flip flopping.  How ironic would have been for my my wife to treat me for covid that I got at HCON only so she could kill me later for being so stupid?

I've actually been very impressed with the board in terms of how they've handled the situation.  I've often been very critical about the board in the past but I think they're doing a good job in very difficult times.  Let's face it, if a police sketch artist was drawing up a picture of a likely victim of COVID-19 it would pretty much look like the average attendee of a historical miniature gaming convention.

There are lively debates on facebook about the wisdom of canceling the event and, I even went back to TMP to see what's up there - after donning PPE to protect me from the slime.  I think it's a universal rule that wargamers have extreme views along all ideological bents and that was in full display on the web.  What has surprised and disappointed me is the vitriol some people have in questioning the courage/intelligence of individuals who are choosing caution over playing with toy soldiers.  Thats just not necessary - make your own decision but don't denigrate others who live in different circumstance.

All I can say is my wife's experience treating these patients with the virus has been harrowing and the social distancing has saved lives that would have been lost in March and April with hospitals being overrun even more so than they were.  If you've failed in life to the degree you seek solace in conspiracy theories, well that's on you.  Pro-tip - looking to blame others for your problems only ensures you keep wallowing in your on form of self pity.

I was planning to do a large Napoleonic campaign game at this year's Historicon.  With that now cancelled, I'm thinking about changing up and doing a Russo-Japanese War themed campaign - both land and sea.  I've jumped into to the R-J was in 6mm in a very big way and there are rumors floating about that someone at my address may have ordered and received a miniature of every ship from both the Russian and Japanese fleets in 1/2400 scale from War Times Journal.  Of course these are only rumors that can NEVER be confirmed in any way whatsoever to my lovely yet fierce wife.  Capice?

Project Wargaming You Tube Channel

A few of the club members made it to Fall In and put out a video on Little Wars TV.  One of the outstanding games they saw was the D-day game pictured.  It's in glorious 6mm scale and the table really looks wonderful.  The gentleman who put on the game has a Youtube Channel called "Project Wargaming" which I've found very informative and fun to watch.  Go check it out.

Wargames Illustrated Issue 383 (Shameless Self-Promotion)

The current (Sep'19) issue of Wargames Illustrated (#383) has some very good coverage last July's Historicon, including a full page spread on my game.  Hence the overall self-congratulatory post.

Thanks fro the very nice coverage - Dave Taylor is a superb photographer and his skills make even the schlock I put on look good.

Lessons from Running a Large Napoleonic Participation Game

Running a large convention (aka participation) game can be a daunting task.  However, if a dolt like me can do it, so can you.

Over the years I have learned, and in some cases relearned, several lessons that I will now bore you with.  You'd better go get a coffee as the caffeine jolt may be needed to get through this meandering discourse.

First a word on scale - when I say big, I mean BIG - this year's game, To Catch a King, was played on a 6 foot by 19 foot table and had 2,417 figures in play.  The game was designed for 8 players but I mostly played with 10.

1) KNOW The Rules (and when you don't, fake it)
Nothing detracts from a good game like a rules dispute.  All of us have a hidden rules lawyer just waiting to get off the chain and it's your role as Game Master to ensure it doesn't happen.  I put a lot of effort in knowing the rules but state clearly at the start of the game that I will make mistakes but my decisions are final.  After running a few games, you'll also be able to develop the skills to spot budding table top Clarence Darrows and a quiet word prior to the game start goes a long way in heading things off.  The worst thing a GM can do is loose control of a rules debate.  Even if you're unsure. make a call quickly and move on.  It's OK to be wrong but be wrong decisively.  At least I hope being wrong is OK, because I'm wrong a lot.

2) Get Players into the Action Fast
I try to design scenarios where all the players are into the fight no later than turn 2 - a bored player either becomes disengaged or contemplates rules questions.  An engaged player has fun.  In other words, the devil does find work for idle hands.  All of my players have units the are on the tabletop.  Where there are off table reinforcements - they are additions to existing player rosters not a player waiting in the wings.

3) Limit Upfront Rules Lectures
Don't spend 30 minutes explaining all the rules in detail and then start playing - no-one will remember your rambling and likely boring diatribe.  Just hit the high points and use the first turn or two to walk through the rules.  For To Catch a King, one end of the table (the Austrians and French I Corps) whas set up close to one another so there was some contact on turn one, while the rest of the table required at least a turn of movement before contact.  Having actual on table top examples while blathering on about the rules is very helpful.

4) Allow some do overs (at the start)
No one likes to like dumb and players can hold back out of fear from appearing so.  One way to alleviate that is be generous allowing for do-overs if players make a really dumb move.  One just needs to be even handed for each side.  I typically have a count of three per side and always mention something dumb I've done in a past game when the player needs a break

5) Speed is your friend
Find ways to speed up play, especially if there are lots of miniatures to move.  A few easily learned tips

- Minimize on table top status markers that need to be moved along with the units - for TCaK, I created laminated players cards to track unit status with a grease pencil - easy to use and quick to reset for the next game.  Wow this French Corps really got chewed up.

- Movement Trays - where ever possible put mutli-stand units in movement trays.  It moves the game along a lot faster and saves wear and tear on you minis as players grab the stands and not the minis.  I made 40 or so for column formation stands out of Polystyrene plastic and they worked great.

The stands were a 1/16 inch thick sheet of ploystyrene with a some edging glued around three edges.  I left the back open so the unit labels wouldn't be obstructed.

 The friction between the sides and the troop stands was pretty good.  I'll do a post on making these in a few days.

- Bellow out the turn order and essentially act like a carnival barker - gotta keep the game moving.  One really can not be shy and be a good GM.
- Every player should have there own QRF (Quick Reference Sheet) for the rules.  Don't go cheap on the printing.  I give each player a clipboard to organize all of the player aids.  Gamers LOVE clipboards.
- If a players wanders away from the table, (it happens) step in, as the GM, and play for them until they get back.  DO NOT hold up play for absent players.  The one caveat, if a player has some medical issue or disability you do need to accommodate them and I will hold up play for that type of issue.  That's just common courtesy.  Make sure you announce that you will step in for absent players at the start of the game.
- Have 3x the number of dice you need.  Dice love to hide on the table top BUT dice hide and seek shouldn't be a recurring feature of your game.  Dice are cheap, go buy a lot more.

6) Kids Win Always (but maybe not the game).
This is a bit of an alteration of my past rule that Kids Win, Always.  I've learned that forcing a game outcome to favor the side that a child plays on can be off-putting and doesn't really teach sportsmanship.  So I no longer overly tilt gameplay in favor of a kid (see item 4 above).  I still try to make the experience memorable and positive by awarding a medal of valor to any child players at the conclusion. I found a source of inexpensive replica WW2 British medals and now always have some on hand.  I gave out two this year and it seemed to go over really well, as young master Andy demonstrates.  Andy's side lost the game and he had to put up a stiff defense with his one British division against THREE French ones but it still looks like he enjoyed the game.

Napoleon was right about medals.

7) Stuff Breaks - Don't Whine About it.
If you choose to go down the path of participation games, you must bear in mind that your toys will get used and some will be broken.  It happens.  Don't get mad, don't look hurt, don't act like a diva.  Just laugh it off and fix it.  I always bring a hobby emergency kit - paints, brushes, hobby knife and super glue with accelerant and can repair just about any mishap.  I also bring a terrain repair kit with loose flock, matte medium for glue, terrain paint and the all important hot glue gun w/ lots of glue sticks.  Also an extension cord.  I probably could pay for my convention travel expenses by just renting out the hot glue gun to other GM's.  I'll repeat the main point again STUFF WILL GET BROKEN - not a lot but don't act like an ass when it does.  If this point rubs you the wrong way then maybe being a convention GM isn't the right path for you.

8) Don't Go Solo 
Putting on convention games is really a lot of work - find some friends or a club to help.  I've joined Army Group York (yes the guys who put out the LittleWarsTV channel) and being part of a club at a convention makes doing all this stuff both easier and a lot more fun.  I'm still surprised the club lowered it's standards to let me in.

9) Have Fun
Being a GM is a combination of two roles I've always aspired to be - a Big Top Circus Ringmaster and a Carnival Barker.  You can't be shy and you need to be able to read people to gauge their personality types.  These are good life skills and ones that pay double as a convention GM.  You do have to be comfortable being the center of attention and getting the odd quizzical / judgmental look from passer by's.  Ignore them, they're just jealous they can't get into you game or they think you're an idiot.  I can live with either as I'm having a blast and they look like they're not.  As the great philosopher and social commentator C Sheen once said, "WINNING".

Historicon 2019: To Catch a King - A Retrospective

 I was more than a little nervous with my game "To Catch A King" at Historicon this year for a number of reasons, one of which which was the scale - there are over 2,400 mini's on the table.  The following photo's show the initial setup.  I did tinker with it a little bit over the course of the con, but no material changes where made.  The objective of the game was for the British to get the King's carriage across the map and onto a waiting ship.  The French wanted to prevent that.  In the end, the French won 4 out of 5 games but it was a lot closer than that tally appears.

 The French Left flank consisted of Soult's single division on the shore and Lannes corps of two divisions (in the center of the picture plus a reserve force of a Guard infantry and heavy calvary divisions under Napoleon.  Soult's smaller division had a chance of maritime reinforcements over the course of the game.

In the center was Davout and his III Corps of two divisions.

Finally, on the French right flank is Bernadotte and his I Corps of (yet again) 2 divisions.  Opposing I corps is a similar sized Austrian Corps.  Austrians?  During Napoleon's invasion of Britain?  Well the given reason is that they're British Allies.  The real reason is that I ran out of time painting British and had to augment the force with some Austrians!

The British center is held by II Corps which has two divisions deployed between the bridge and around the central village.

On the right flank the British I corps is deployed along a hill and into the port city.  One of the divisions, commanded by the upstart Wellesely has deployed on the reverse slope of the hill awaiting the French.  To the rear of the formation is the British reserve - a heavy cavalary division of three brigades and a horse artillery battery.

Finally the British right flank is anchored by a single division but they have mixed up their orders and deployed to far forward,  Oops....

The sides are fairly balanced with the French having a slight advantage in numbers 32 infantry, and 11 cavalry brigades plus 9 artillery batteries opposed to 28 infantry and 10 cavalry brigades plus 8 artillery batteries.  There were 2,417 figures on the table.

The setup was intended to allow some initial skirmishing on the flanks to help teach rule mechanics and then have everyone in some form of contact by turn 2.

 "To Catch a King" was played 5 times over the course of the con, with the first game being Thursday afternoon.  Both the French and British CiC's were experienced General d'Armee players and from the same gaming group.  That fact was really helpful in managing the game.

 The decisive point of the game came when the Austrians launched a spoiling attach against the French as they were trying to move part of I Corps across a ford to reinforce the main attach in the center.  The attack was more costly to the Austrians in losses but threw off the main French attack as reinforcements were rushed to fill the gap and away from the key objective.  Game 1 was a resounding British victory.

The players from Game1

 The Friday morning game resulted in a French victory and they were able to capture the King at the bridge crossing.  Davout's reputation has been further enhanced.  The French did have an unfair advantage as they had a Priest on their side.

 Furious fighting on the shoreline - lots of casualties on each side but no breakthroughs.

 Davout's main column breaks through and captures the King!

 There just weren't enough British in the areas to mount a counter attack

Lesson from Game 2 - always have a priest on your side of the table.

 Game three was perhaps my favorite on the con so, of course I forgot to take pictures.  I had fantastic players including a full family, the Green Viking and Josh from the club.

The fighting was furious and this was the only game the French heavy cav really was decisive as it charged over the hill and cut the road.  Victory to France!

The game three crew!

Young Andy commanded the extreme British right flank and managed to hold off elements of three French divisions with his single and batters British one.  For his bravery and coolness under fire he was awarded a Victoria's Cross much to the exclaim of his gaming participants, especially the French.  It was a good day.

That's correct, Master Andy is the recipient of a genuine replica Victoria's Cross.

 Game Four (Sat am) was a really hard fought affair with fighting all across the front.  This game played out as close to what I had imagined the game to do

 It was another French Victory, but just by the king of their teeth

 The last game on Saturday was also fun but I was really tired - running big games can be a bit taxing.

 Good friend Mike P commanded the Austrians.  His turn 1 dice rolling was red hot - two box cars in a row.  His turn 2+ dice rolling was not red hot.  Mike is a great guy and a pleasure to have at the gaming table win or loose.

 This was the first game where the king was caught before crossing the bridge!

The Game 5 crew.  Another French Victory.

I was really pleased with how the game played but there was a lot I can do to make the game better.

As I indicated at the beginning of this post, I was more than a little nervous putting this game on as I was using a somewhat detailed set of rules (General d'Armee) and its scope was pretty big.

General d'Armee - the rules actually worked well and players picked up the key concepts by turn 2.  I do think the 4 pages of QRF sheets are hard to process for a new player and I need to make some custom ones that reduce some of the complexity.  These remain, by far, my favorite Napoleonic rules but do need a "lite" version for convention play.

Naval Aspect - My original game concept had a naval aspect with frigates and house rules.  After seeing how big the game really is and the noise in the convention area, I decided to just focus on the land battle which was still a bit of a bear to GM.  For future games where I want a naval aspect I think I'll go with the format I used for "Decision in Delmarva" in 2015 where a morning naval battle sets up the afternoons land battle.  The ship's did serve as nice eye candy!

Napoleonics - I'm hooked - I think this game looked great and was playable so one can do Napoleonic in a convention setting.  I'm pretty sure you'll see another Nappy themed game at Historicon in 2020.  What's the scenario?  I'm still trying to figure that out.....

I do want thank my club mates who were really helpful over the course of the con.  I find myself very fortunate to count them as friends.  Also thanks a lot to Chris Hecht who drove up Saturday to help - maybe one day we can lure him back to the dark side of Historical gaming.  Maybe.....

HCON Prep: CRUNCH Time

 Yikes - Less than two days until HCON!  Now it's it's just down to packing up and getting all the player aids done

The first picture is the initial British order of battle 8 total divisions and associated support units.

Initial? you ask - yes both sides may or may not have unexpected reinfoircements.  Its really all up to the dice gods.....

Ahh - the real glamour behind putting on a convention game.  Laminating player aids!  As we all know, only the finest games use laminated materials.  I'm pretty much just a poser and hoping the lamination hides the rather poor aspects of my game design.  Its worked in the past!

These are the ship management card for my new Age of Sail ruleset.  The working title is Bucentaure!

We'll see if these ever see the light of day post HCON

Time until Historicon:
2 Days: 9 Hours: 8 minutes

HOLY CRAP!

Historicon Prep: A Mini Burnsides Bridge

 Because I don't have enough to do getting ready for Historicon, I decided to add to the list but building a "kinda" replica of Burnsides Bridge from the Battle of Antietam fame.  I just knocked it together with some scrap EPS foam.  The picture is just after the priming of a 50/50 mix of Black Paint and Matte Modge Podge.  This really hardens the EPS foam.

 There are two reasons I decided to build a new bridge.  The first is practical (if any miniature gaming need can be described as practical).  I've got a simple wooden bridge that looks good for 28mm but just doesn't cut it for 15's - especially for a big event like Historicon.

 The second reason is more sentimental.  My computer randomly puts pictures up as a screen saver and yesterday it went through a trip my son and I took to Antietam in 2005 - here's a picture of the real Burnside's Bridge from that trip.

and a picture of Sean at age 10 from the same visit.  I got a little teary eyed and decided I needed to build a bridge.  I think that's a damn good reason.

Time Until Historicon
8 Days: 10 hours: 31 minutes

HCON Prep: Hills are done!

 The sloped Hill panel is done!  Another tick off the to-do list for Historicon.

A close up of some of the rock areas

The cliff face.  That looks like a great spot to place an artillery battery - what do you think?

A side glance.  The slope isn't all that steep - 3 inches over 18 inches.  That was done on purpose to reduce the chance of minis falling over.  We'll see how that works in a few weeks.

Countdown to Historicon:

15 days, 8 hours, 13 minutes