I am much looking forward to Historicon. It will be a needed break from life here in Los Angeles. The trip will encompass more than the convention itself, as our group immediately following the con will head to Philadelphia for visits to USS Olympia, a member of the Great White Fleet, then across the river to USS New Jersey. From there it is on to Gettysburg for two days, and other ACW battlefields following that stop on the way to Richmond, Virginia. Not even sure where we are going, but I plan to tag along. I am one of the drivers, after all.
American Battlelines will be on my table at H-con, and I hope to get some feedback on the changes to the rules I have proposed. Mostly, in fact all, of the reviews from playtesters so far has been positive. The fiddly bits have been trimmed, and the important decisions left in the game. Morale is one significant area that was changed. No longer do you have to roll morale every time you take casualties, but instead once per turn, when the unit is activated. A significant number of die rolls are eliminated, and it is more realistic, in that a big unit cannot take desultory fire from two units, and then break before its next activation. Now mods are stacked on the unit for Morale, and it is more like to have adverse consequences as a result.
I look forward to the gaming, the shopping, the camaraderie, and my once-per-year chance to see my partners. It is the one business meeting I attend in person.
Showing posts with label conventions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conventions. Show all posts
29 June 2010
15 June 2010
Hobby Day in Anaheim
Attended HMGS/PSW's Hobby Day last Saturday, the 12th July. I brought one of my favorite Euro-games, Formula D. Played two races, Long Beach and Buenos Aries, and lost handily at both. Gave to the two-time winner a reader's copy of a book that a friend had given me as a published paperback. Am seriously looking to prune out the excess books I have on my shelves. Cannot fit everything any more, and I do not want to rent a storage unit. Regarding Hobby Day, I will be back to this Anaheim event, probably to run another game, or to play in the games present. Good turnout, and friendly people.
Am gearing up for another Mein Panzer event in San Diego. This one will be French vs Germans in 1940. Lots of interest in running French tanks. This will be a trial of the new Bonus shot technique, where if you get more than ten of your To-Hit roll, you get a Bonus shot no matter what your Troop Quality. Needless to say, there will be a bigger difference between TQ's than with the current edition of the game. Just a test.
Am gearing up for another Mein Panzer event in San Diego. This one will be French vs Germans in 1940. Lots of interest in running French tanks. This will be a trial of the new Bonus shot technique, where if you get more than ten of your To-Hit roll, you get a Bonus shot no matter what your Troop Quality. Needless to say, there will be a bigger difference between TQ's than with the current edition of the game. Just a test.
09 June 2010
new convention in La-la land
Actually, it is in Anaheim, California, not L.A. This new convention, the SoCal Smackdown, is running Labor Day weekend, the same weekend an older con, Strategicon, is running in Los Angeles near the airport. It threatens to divide what was originally a too thin number of historical miniatures events amongst two venues. A shame, this. One will have to choose which nearly empty basket to drop one's eggs. Due to attendance problems at Strategicon, I will likely try out the new venue, and see if there are a significant number of gamers willing to turn out for an Orange County event.
16 February 2010
Strategicon event — Orccon
This past weekend I attended the local thrice annual Strategicon convention, Orccon. Along with the founding member of Miracle Mile Gamers (MMG), Sacha, we ran a Mein Panzer event on Sunday morning and afternoon. The scenario was largish, and we scaled it down to allow for fewer players than originally intended. The overall result was a German victory, as the Canadians bashed their heads against the defense by elite Fallschirmjaegers. A lot of casualties on the Canadian side, but few on the German. Chalked up as a learning exercise by the San Diego group for whom we presented the scenario. Notably, only friends played in this scenario, so it was not a success from the standpoint of introducing new players to the game.
Saturday, I played in my usual Guns at Gettysburg game, and had a good time losing my entire brigade in near record fashion, due to some spectacularly bad die rolling. Then off to hear a lecture by Lonnie Gill, designer of General Quarters III, on pre-WWII naval and aviation subjects.
As usual, dinner Saturday night was at the Versailles, a Cuban restaurant in Los Angeles, that serves a lot of food, heavy with garlic, inexpensively. Chowed down on a great pork roast dinner. Spent Saturday night observing a Fear God & Dreadnought game, run by the San Diego crew. Still cannot bring myself to again play the Command at Sea-system, on which I cut my teeth as a naval gamer some twelve or thirteen years ago, when it was first released. It is a worthy system, which is well-supported by its publisher, Clash of Arms games. Just not my cup o' tea.
Also was introduced to the Glory-series of board games from GMT. Jury still out on these. Relatively simple to play, but at a level that I do not particularly like, i.e., brigades. I prefer their regimental games in the Great Battles of the ACW series. But will play the game again.
The dealer room was a bit sparse this time round. Nothing and no one really new.
Overall, Strategicon is what you make of it. Have to bring your own game in order to have a good time. There were other historical games, including a General Quarters III game, which is at least some smattering of continued interest in the non-fantasy end of the hobby.
Saturday, I played in my usual Guns at Gettysburg game, and had a good time losing my entire brigade in near record fashion, due to some spectacularly bad die rolling. Then off to hear a lecture by Lonnie Gill, designer of General Quarters III, on pre-WWII naval and aviation subjects.
As usual, dinner Saturday night was at the Versailles, a Cuban restaurant in Los Angeles, that serves a lot of food, heavy with garlic, inexpensively. Chowed down on a great pork roast dinner. Spent Saturday night observing a Fear God & Dreadnought game, run by the San Diego crew. Still cannot bring myself to again play the Command at Sea-system, on which I cut my teeth as a naval gamer some twelve or thirteen years ago, when it was first released. It is a worthy system, which is well-supported by its publisher, Clash of Arms games. Just not my cup o' tea.
Also was introduced to the Glory-series of board games from GMT. Jury still out on these. Relatively simple to play, but at a level that I do not particularly like, i.e., brigades. I prefer their regimental games in the Great Battles of the ACW series. But will play the game again.
The dealer room was a bit sparse this time round. Nothing and no one really new.
Overall, Strategicon is what you make of it. Have to bring your own game in order to have a good time. There were other historical games, including a General Quarters III game, which is at least some smattering of continued interest in the non-fantasy end of the hobby.
07 September 2009
Strategicon
I attended Strategicon in Los Angeles this weekend as an official representative of Old Dominion GameWorks. As publisher of General Quarters III, my presence was requested by the “Special Projects Team.” They are a good bunch of guys who are literally swimming upstream, trying to inject interest in miniatures into this thrice-annual convention by inveigling gamemasters to run lots of games. Strategicon had become a miniatures desert for a while, and now it is still pretty arid, but there is a trickle of activity. They are doing their best. One of the things the Special Projects people do is run GQIII games in 1:700 scale, on a cordoned off area of the exhibit hall floor, with a measuring cloth ruler about 20-30 feet long. Very eye-catching and well attended.
Strategicon itself is predominantly a boardgame and role-playing con, with Euro games in abundance in the boardgame rooms. Historical gaming takes a back seat everywhere, including the miniatures area, yielding much of its space to Star Fleet Battles, Warhammer in its various incarnations, and Battletech. So there is a challenge in looking for passing folks interested in trying something new.
I refereed two games of the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, a fairly well balanced scenario between the USN and the Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy). In the event, it was a US victory, with the Japanese inflicting almost as much damage to themselves through collisions as were inflicted by the Americans. Historically, USN cruisers' gunfire quickly disabled one Japanese light cruiser. Then two IJN destroyers collided during one's torpedo attack. Finally, a Kaigun heavy cruiser sliced off the bow of yet another destroyer. In my games, the U.S. won once, and in the other they had their head handed to them by successful Japanese torpedo fire. As usual, there were problems with getting adequate table space for games. Despite using 1:6000 miniatures, I had problems running a game on a small 6’ x 2½’ riser. The con can do better in allocating sufficient area to miniatures games.
Some friends from San Diego made a day trip to the con, and played in a car racing game called Speed Rally (I think). It quickly degenerated into Circus Maximus with automobiles, with only one car moving at the end of six laps. Much hilarity as they collided with and shot at each other. A good bit better than the much-revered Car Wars, in my view.
I managed to include playing in one game run by a local gamer of the Battle of Iuka, Mississippi, an ACW historical affair from 1862. Had my entire Union brigade run off its center position by the successful charge of one somewhat depleted Confederate brigade, so I was done fairly early in the game. Eventually the Union would win, surprisingly. The casualties the Confederates were racking up finally caught up with them. Great fun, and demonstrated another game system and how it handles American Civil War combat.
I traded my first edition of Yaquinto’s game Ironclads. Glad it went to an appreciative friend, who will make some use of it, since I never will. As much as I enjoy naval conflict in general, ACW has never appealed to me. Too much like hitting an anvil with a hammer. Mais, chacun à son goût!
Strategicon itself is predominantly a boardgame and role-playing con, with Euro games in abundance in the boardgame rooms. Historical gaming takes a back seat everywhere, including the miniatures area, yielding much of its space to Star Fleet Battles, Warhammer in its various incarnations, and Battletech. So there is a challenge in looking for passing folks interested in trying something new.
I refereed two games of the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, a fairly well balanced scenario between the USN and the Kaigun (Imperial Japanese Navy). In the event, it was a US victory, with the Japanese inflicting almost as much damage to themselves through collisions as were inflicted by the Americans. Historically, USN cruisers' gunfire quickly disabled one Japanese light cruiser. Then two IJN destroyers collided during one's torpedo attack. Finally, a Kaigun heavy cruiser sliced off the bow of yet another destroyer. In my games, the U.S. won once, and in the other they had their head handed to them by successful Japanese torpedo fire. As usual, there were problems with getting adequate table space for games. Despite using 1:6000 miniatures, I had problems running a game on a small 6’ x 2½’ riser. The con can do better in allocating sufficient area to miniatures games.
Some friends from San Diego made a day trip to the con, and played in a car racing game called Speed Rally (I think). It quickly degenerated into Circus Maximus with automobiles, with only one car moving at the end of six laps. Much hilarity as they collided with and shot at each other. A good bit better than the much-revered Car Wars, in my view.
I managed to include playing in one game run by a local gamer of the Battle of Iuka, Mississippi, an ACW historical affair from 1862. Had my entire Union brigade run off its center position by the successful charge of one somewhat depleted Confederate brigade, so I was done fairly early in the game. Eventually the Union would win, surprisingly. The casualties the Confederates were racking up finally caught up with them. Great fun, and demonstrated another game system and how it handles American Civil War combat.
I traded my first edition of Yaquinto’s game Ironclads. Glad it went to an appreciative friend, who will make some use of it, since I never will. As much as I enjoy naval conflict in general, ACW has never appealed to me. Too much like hitting an anvil with a hammer. Mais, chacun à son goût!
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