Friday at Historicon

 

  A most busy and fun day! Lots to do and see and met up with old and new friends.

 Started the day with playing in Jim Purky's massive game of the attack on Khartoum.  As based on the movie!   It was massive (3 tables) , it was spectacular (54mm)and it was great fun.  Here are a couple pictures but to due justice I am going to do a separate post on it.  Stay tuned.

  In the dealers area it was outstanding to actual see and talk with the people you have been buying stuff from over the years. One really nice thing was the demo games rule writers put on to teach you their new rule sets.

   I was especially happy to met  Joerg Bender from "Things From The Basement." He makes the wonderful MDF buildings you see on my table.  

 Games!  Lots of games and spread out over three floors.  All scales and  all types.  Here are a few pictures.

 

USN in the Pacific

The Alamo in 15mm

USMC in the Pacific

very nice ACW game with excellent terrain

very small scale ACW

Cowboy shoot out game

ACW skirmish game

  Now I am off to play another game!

Thursday at Historicon

 

  After leaving my house about 8:30 AM we drove straight down to Lancaster Pennsylvania.  We arrived at the hotel about 3:09 PM, took a quick nap then headed over to the Convention center.  Because we could not get rooms at the center we are staying outside the city.  Rather then bother with trying to find parking and high parking rates we took Uber.  This worked very nicely for us.    After registering we checked out the dealers area and then wandered through the games.  I bumped into a number if old friends and individuals I had not seen in too many years.  Then it was back to the hotel, a bit of supper and try to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow.  One thing I quickly learned was to bring a charger for my cell phone!   Between uber and pictures and texting home the battery was drained!

  While in the dealers area  I discovered a newish miniature company;  at least to me.  Venture Minuatures focus on the War of Austrian Succession and make 28/30mm figures for the British, French, Hanovarian and Austrian armies.  The figures were done by Dave Wilson who studied under Edward Suren.  Because of this the minuatures have the visual appearance and charm of his old Willie figures.  To me these are outstanding miniatures.

  In addition to the military there are also a number if civilian figures.  These represent both upper and lower classes as well as a neat sedan chair.  Perfect for adding interest to your 18th century table top battles.

  If interested please check out the website for Venture Minuatures at:

https://www.ventureminiatures.com/jackdaw-miniatures/

You will be very glad you did!

  

On The Road Again

               

  And we are off and running!  Leaving this morning on our way to Historicon.  Its about a seven hour drive for us so should be there early this evening.   Once there we will check in and take a walk about the venue and perhaps the flea market area.

 I am signed up for two games;  on Friday morning in Jim Purky's Storming of Khartoum game and Saturday afternoon Eric Turner's Battle of Queenston Heights game.  Both look exciting and I am looking forward to them.  

More news to follow!

Historicon 2023

 

The big Wargames convention Historicon is later this week.  I have not been to any convention since back in 2018.  My good friend George just called and asked if I would be interested in driving down to attend.  Lets see if we can get our act together.  More to follow!

Club Game Night: Sails of Glory

 

  Taking a little break from the War of 1812 Friday was our club game night.  There were three games set up, An Ancients battle, a WW2 action and Mike Bailey put in a naval action with his Sails of Glory ships.

  The scenario was a what if Nelson caught Napoleon's fleet on route to Egypt.  There were four ships for fact sure set-up.  The British ships had to sail into the wind (very slow going) and we're mostly 74guns.  The French thus had better speed and two big 100+ ships.  in the action that followed my ship passed by a French ship and we exchanged passing shots.  I then spent the game trying to turn about and return to the sction.  Obviously I did not get points for my ship sailing.

  Unfortunately Nelson sailed his ship between the two French 100+ men if war with very predictable results.  The two French ships later sailed into each other in what we landlubbers would call a collision.  Unfortunately in the basic rules the results were ignored.  At the end of the evening two British ships were gone and one French ship sunk.

  I enjoyed the game and Mike did a fantastic job.  It's only n the second sailing ships game I have played in and it was great fun.