Williamsburg Muster Up and Running

There is a week left until our fifth annual Muster and almost everything (knock on the cloud aka wood) is really starting to move well.

All vendors have paid that I mentioned in my last blog.  I believe we added Age of Glory, who originally stated he would not be able to attend but he bought one table.  Every little bit helps.

Early registration just started to pick up in the past two weeks.  Two weeks ago, I think we had 14 signed up, today we have 56 and their is still a week to go  If this follows the other Muster and Guns of August conventions, pre-registrations have been one-fifth to one-sixth to attendees.  So 250 to 300+.  Man, this will help a lot, as we lost some money on Guns of August, because of its closeness in time to Historicon. 

After much debate and Cliff gentle pushing, I have decided to run a Bolt Action game on Saturday afternoon.  The reason for the debate was my "co-workers" have trouble running the convention without me.  I'll be running the same Bolt Action WWII skirmish game I played at Guns, Bustin' the Bocage.  It will be an attack of American infantry with some armor vs. German Fallschermjagers (sic) in the hedgerow country of Normandy near St. Lo.  I post an AAR in my next blog.

The big thing I want to do this year is make sure I take loads of photos of the convention and especially of my game.  I have a habit of bringing my camera and not using it.

Working on Williamsburg Muster

After many problems with the new website and registration,  the fifth annual Williamsburg Muster wargame convention's registration work has begun for me. 

I have contacted all of our normal vendors through both e-mail and at HMGS Fall-In Miniature Convention.  The following vendors have confirmed or paid to attend.

• Miniatures of Chesapeake
• Falcon UK
• Atlantis Games
• Wargames Factory
• Larry's Legions
• Warstore Collectables
• Flag Dude
• Silver Eagle Wargame Supplies
• Thoroughbred Miniatures
• Dragon's Hoard
• Major Objective Games
• ODGW
• Collins Epic Wargames
• BV Traders

Gamer registration has be slow so far but I believe it will pick up after Christmas.

Guns of August Bolt Action AAR

Guns of August Bolt Action AAR

At the Guns of August gaming convention at Williamsburg, VA, I ran a Bolt Action game called “Bustin’ the Bocage: On the Road to St.Lo.”  The scenario involved an American platoon with some armor support having to take a crucial crossroads from dug-in

Germans, who were determined to prevent the American objective.

Forces

The American forces involved were regular American infantry and armor led by a captain and second lieutenant.  These forces included three squads of GIs of ten men each.  Each squad included two SMGs, one BAR, and seven rifles.  Each squad had a three man MMG attached.  The American force also included two mortar sections with one spotter.  The force also had an artillery spotter and radioman for a barrage attempt.  Attached to this platoon were a Sherman 75 and a Sherman 76 tank.

The German force consisted of veteran Fallschirmjagers led by a captain.   The main part of this force consisted of a 12 man squad broken down into two sections.  These two sections had mixed weaponry of rifles, SMGs, an assault rifle, an LMG team, and two men with two panzerfausts.  The force also included three MMG teams and two medium mortar teams with a spotter.  Also included in the force were an entrenched PAK 40 and a hidden Marder III.

Map:  Looking from the German side of the board.  Notice the entrenched PAK 40 at the crossroads.

 

Special Rules:  The Germans, except the PAK 40, were in ambush under hidden deployment and could show up anywhere within or hidden by a terrain feature.  One field was mined.  These were house rules, because as of right now there are no rules for mines in Bolt Action.  The house rules for the mines are they are hidden and if the field was moved into by a unit, the unit takes a d2 HE hit.

After Action Report

The game began with the Germans allowing the Americans to advance upon the board in the first turn, without revealing an ambush.  The Americans separated their three squads into the left, center, and right of the table.  The tanks and mortars came in through the center of the board. 

On turn two, as the Americans were advancing upon the woods in the center the Germans revealed an ambush of one of their infantry squads and a MMG crew.  The Germans rolled poorly but pinned down the center group of American infantry and the Sherman 76, which was hit by a panzerfausts but only pinned.

After about three turns of fighting in front of the woods, the Americans finally overwhelmed the Germans in the woods with the assistance of the Americans on the left.  In the meantime, the American squad on the right kept advancing slowly but surely through the bocage and the fields to advance without being seen by the PAK 40.

Once the American squad on the right crossed into the field just above the bocaged orchard, it struck the minefield and became pinned down.  To make matters worse for them, the Germans revealed a MMG in the bocage ahead of this squad and with accurate mortar fire and MMG firepower tore the American squad up.

After eliminating the threat in the woods, the American left and center continued on.  The left ran into opposition at the orchard and the blown up farmhouse.  This battle generally ran tit-for-tat with the Sherman 75 eventually being immobilized by a panzerfausts and the Germans being wiped out to a man by small arms, cannon, and MMG fire.

The turning point of the battle was when the PAK 40 was spotted at the crossroads and was wiped out by a well die-rolled (rolled a 6 on the barrage table) barrage.  Once this happened, the only thing that stood in the way of the Americans taking the crossroads was the German command contingent, which was eventually assaulted by the Americans coming down the center.  It was at this point the Germans decided to give up the ghost, even though they never revealed the Marder III.

My thoughts

The game lasted about three hours; it’s easy to run, as the players picked up the rules real quick.  The one mistake I made is I forgot if that if a pinned unit makes a command roll, it loses one pin marker. 

I do believe the players had a good time and they seemed to have enjoyed the game.  I’m planning on running this again for my club, as it is a scenario that can be run again and again.

Getting ready for another Guns of August

I can't believe the last time I blogged was last year for Guns of August and I haven't updated.  Since I last wrote, I helped run a relatively unsuccessful Williamsburg Muster.  The reason is some folks dropped the ball and as a result attendance was down a little.  We couldn't even cover room nights.

This doesn't mean I didn't have fun.  I ran one game of Blitzkrieg Commander:  Hell in the Hedgerows.  It was tight but the Germans won as the Americans ran out of time.  I also played in a few boardgames and did real well.  Oh!  I also smashed Jason into the wall in Circus Maximus and came in second.

Guns of August

All and all the convention went off well.

I think registration went off great, especially with the help of Bill Phillips and Erin Finley. They did a fantastic job of registering folks and selling raffle tickets.

Although we did have a problem with one vendor (same one we had at the Muster, who had a problem with the hotel. He will not be asked back), all the vendors seemed to do well. We have Mark Walker from Lock n' Load, a new vendor, who has all ready asked to come to the Muster.

The two new rooms we created for the boardgames and role playing games went off well. Jake DiToro and the guys from TAGS did a great job of running the board game room, which was a hit. The room in the evening was constantly full with folks enjoying many a board game.

Peter Schweighofer was our special guest in the RPG room and I know he ran at least three games, as my son, Timothy, played in all of them. Peter's a great GM. I got the chance to speak with him after the event and he said how much he liked it. As a matter of fact, he helps put together the NOVAG game club magazine and it includes a photo summary of Guns, that is found here http://novag.org/newsletters/TheGamersCloset64.pdf

The game I was going to run failed to start, as I forgot to bring half of my terrain. In some ways, I was glad as I feel I needed to keep an eye on registration at opening. If I run a game at the Muster, I'm going to run it in the evening when the pressure of keeping on top of every thing will be lessened.

Here are some photos.

Guns of August Update

Four more days till the convention and most things have been set.

• Program is finished. The earliest it has ever been finished.
• Early registration is the highest it has ever been. The 2011 Williamsburg Muster had the highest at 47 preregistered participants. The 2011 Guns has surpassed that by 30 with 77 folks preregistered. Looking at the examples for our other conventions, preregistration is general 1:4 to 1:5 attendance. We could be looking at 308 to 385 attendees and that does not include staff or vendors, who also participate in games.
  
• We easily made room nights at the Holiday Inn Patriot, so except for the set up fee of $500 and $1000 for tables, we are set.
• When we get there the staff will get the items for the hospitality suite.
• I'm almost ready for the Blitzkrieg Commander game I am running. I have the OOB's created and all I have to do now is gather my terrain, rules, and figures, then I will be done except for the packing.
• CAN"T WAIT!
  

Historicon and Guns of August Update

At the last minute, I found out I could attend Historicon. I was speaking with Chuck Turnitsa about Guns of August stuff and he asked me if I was attending Historicon. I told him no as I did not have a room. He then invited me to stay with Chris Borucki, Paul Crouch, and himself as Jeremy Crouch could not attend. I asked my wife and she gave me the OK!

We left early Thursday morning and arrived about 1 pm at the convention site at King of Prussia. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express close by the convention site at the Radisson and Scanticon. I was lucky enough to get a free badge from Cotton Jim Russell, in exchange for helping him at his booth.

During the four days at the con, I played no miniature games as they were all full or I was not interested. Most of the time I wondered around the dealer hall speaking with friends and doing PR work for our cons.

My major buys were two Landmark buildings and 15mm trees from BTC, I also bought a satchel bag from Osprey for my Force on Force rules. I also bought a neat game, part miniature, part board game from Lost Battalion Games called Day of Days. Eventually I'll play it but then again I say the about Tide of Iron from Fantasy Flight Games.

One other thing I did was eat at Hooters for the first time. Carl was nice enough to buy me dinner on Friday and Saturday. I owe him big time. The other thing we did, which brought back many memories, was eating at the newly established Gino's Hamburgers. I got a Gino Giant and fries as well as a milk shake. The new Gino's style to both Carl and myself is a mixture of Five Guys and the old Gino's.

As far as Guns of August goes as of this date we have 30 pre-registers and about two weeks ago there were 22 rooms filled. This has begun to pick up since Historicon. So far it seems our vendors are set and registration is picking up. Carl thinks attendance will be better than last years 200. He may be right as we have added roleplaying and this will bring a few more goobers to attend.