Historicon 2014: Part 2

Historicon 2014 Part 2:

Near the front of the main hall there was a 16 or 20 foot long table with this fantastic castle at the end of it.  It was set up all weekend and played host to a number of different games including a Gnome Wars campaign and a vampire wars game (I think?!?) among others. Anyway it was a REALLY nice piece of terrain.

Another well done table was this one; a huge Jacobite Rebellion game.  I don't remember who was putting it on, but the set up was really top notch.  Most if not all the buildings were by 4Ground and the miniatures looked great.

(Sorry, this one is kinda blurry but shows most of the table)

Speaking of 4Ground, their booth was just as you walked in the Vendor area and they had this fantastic Samurai castle piece.  I spoke with the owner and he said he'd already sold all the ones he'd brought :-( but that he was considering adding to the website.  While I haven't seen it listed yet I'm still hopeful.  Those are Perry Samurai by the way.

Unfortunately as of 2023 4Ground appears to be defunct, however, you may be able to find some of their sets on Ebay or through other vendors.  Too bad.  They sold really nice terrain.

The last game I participated in was Conan skirmish using the Crom rules from Matakishis Tea House.  I wanted to play in this game because I wanted to try out the rules and because, hey its Conan man!  The game master was nice enough to make room for me and a couple of others. Colonial Angle Great Convention Game Tip #16. I was Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast back from the dead.

Episode 1:  Jail Break

Episode 2:  Atlantean Sword

Episode 3:  Thoth-Amon

The Crom rules worked well though with 12 players they certainly got a little "bent" but not broken.  All in all a good game and nicely done terrain.

Living in eastern North Carolina its REALLY nice having Historicon in Fredricksburg now. Lancaster is a nice place but its a long drive from Emerald Isle.  I'm looking forward to going back next year.

Historicon 2014: Part 1

Welcome to my first post!

I've been a gamer on and off since the 80's.  Recently I have been trying to get things started up again but with work, family, and life in general my focus has been a little lacking.  After lurking around a number of excellent blogs I though I'd try one myself.  Hopefully this will get me motivated to get some some projects done and, more importantly, get back to some serious gaming!

Without any painted lead to show off, I though I'd post some pics from Historicon 2014.  Most are from game I participated in but there are also photos of some interesting games I saw as I just walked around.

These first pics are from Thursday: "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Camdon."  Put on by my friend John Murdaugh.  He's a member of the Jackson Gamers and a really nice guy.  I didn't sign up for this game but he made room for me anyway.  The rules were Larry Brom's "Disperse Ye Damned Rebels" and the miniatures were from John's collection of Prince August home cast 40mm molds.

The battle at the beginning of the first turn:

My command: Two squadrons of dragoons and a battalion of jagers.

My best picture of the game.  My dragoons are about to "disperse" some rebel militia.

A couple of turns later.  The militia are running through the woods on the right.  John said he thought he heard their wives calling them!

My dragoons running amok in the enemy's rear.

A final photo of the game with the regulars pouring fire into each other.

All in all a very enjoyable game (even though I was on the winning side).  In fact it was so enjoyable that I played the game again Saturday night.

For more (and better) photos of the game visit John's blog:
http://nomadicoldschoolgamer.blogspot.com/

You can find the Prince August website here:  http://www.princeaugust.ie/

This floating castle is from the Architects of War booth in the vendors' area.  The water is done from a single piece of acrylic that runs through the floating island  The maker said that he heated and bent the ends to form the waterfalls that support the castle.  I thought this was a really great piece of terrain.

This company also markets "All Quiet on the Martian Front."  They had a monster demo game set up on Saturday.  Naturally I got a few pics.

Very impressive.  You can find their website here:  http://www.architectsofwar.com/

The next group of photos is from the game I actually signed up for on Friday.  Its a Sword and the Flame game put on by Mark Stevens, another member of the Jackson Gamers.  It was really well run game and everyone had a good time.

The Brits are tasked with escorting a baggage train through the pass.  Needless to say the savage Pathans are waiting to strike!  I was on the British side and elected to be the C-in-C! (*Gulp!*)  Fortunately I managed to give the natives enough of a bloody nose to sent them scurrying for the hills (with the help of some well placed artillery and flank attack by a platoon of ghurkas).

The column moves out.

We were making for the right side of the pass and massed our infantry accordingly.  Our left flank was held by the cavalry and a mountain gun while a platoon of highlanders (one of two in our force) and a 9 pounder held the center.

My on-table personae attaches to a unit of Sikhs to boost moral. "Stiff upper lip!  Now there's a good lad!"

The blighters try to out flank us!

Lastly our cavalry puts the heathens to flight with cold steel.

I took more photos but I was using my Iphone and neglected to give it enough time to focus so the remaining pics didn't turn out too well.

A last note on an interesting terrain piece though; being a kid in the 70's and 80's I had just about every Star Wars toy that Kenner made.  If the craggy hill on the left looks familiar to anyone it's because it's from the Hoth playset.  I meant to get a better pic of it but forgot. Mark said he just stripped all the unnecessary bits off of it and textured and painted it. Voila! Perfect Northwest Frontier terrain.  Looks like I heading off to my parents' garage to do some rummaging!

If you have time check out the Jackson Gamers website.  They game a lot of different periods so they're to have just about something for everyone:  http://www.jacksongamers.net/

That's it for this post.  I'll put up some more Historicon 2014 photos next time.