Games I will run at Guns

I will be running two WWII skirmish miniature games at Guns of August.  Both will be using my bocage terrain and buildings.  Below is an example of terrain I set up this year at Williamsburg Muster.

The first game I am running on Saturday at noon using  modified Chain of Command rules.  The second game I will run will be on Saturday at 8PM using Force on Force WWII.

Here is another example of terrain below using my stuff.

Getting ready for Guns of August 2016

We have move the conventions to the Ramada Inn East in Williamsburg.  Although the hotel seems kind of dumpy for being old.  It is in the midst of refurbishing after having been closed for two years.

The venue is larger than the HI: Patriot.  The new ballroom is about a size and a half bigger than the Patriot's ballroom.  There is another room that is as large or larger than the tournament room and board game room at the Patriot.  This is what we will use this room for as well.  There are also two large side rooms that will be used for RPGS now that the Pathfinder guys have returned.

We will have our normal FOW tournament.  We have also added a 9th Age Fantasy miniature tournament and a SAGA tournament.

Right now paid vendors are

1. Cotton Jim (2 tables)
2. For the Historian (4)
3. Thoroughbred Miniatures (2)
4. BVTraders (2)
5. Phalanx Consortium (3)
6. Dragons Hoard (4)
7. Atlantis (3)
8. Major Objective Games (1)
9. Silver Eagle (2)

Now all we need is games.  I may run a Chain of Command but I need to see how I feel.  I have also been thinking of Blitzkrieg Commander (15mm)

Williamsburg Muster 2016

Vendors

Shako Game

Ballroom on Saturday

Raffle

Who our conventions help

Our conventions have supported the Recreational Therapy Department of the Hampton VA's Spinal Cord Injury Unit for five years and will continue to do so in the future.

The gentleman above is one of the many that live on the unit.

Guns of August 2015

Hammerin' Iron Game

Main Ballroom 

Main Ballroom: Shako and Black Powder games

My Bolt Action setup

Some Photos from Williamsburg Muster 2015

Kids and Gaming

Main ball room

Friday evening in the Bocage

Warhammer Fantasy Tournament Room

Board Game room

Damn It's been a year

As I stated above, damn it's been a year since I last posted.  The great thing is you can go back and watch the Declaration is Read post from last July 4th.

A problem with many Americans is they believe that the Declaration is a government-creation document, when all it is is a set of grievances against King George III and the British government that told them why we were declaring ourselves independent of them.  It was the Articles of Confederation that was our first "Constitution" and that really wasn't ratified until early 1781.

The Articles had many problems as there was no central Judicial Branch to resolve problems between states, no central Executive Branch to enforce the law, no taxing ability, no common currency, etc....  This made the central government weak basically created 13 states, whose power was supreme over the central government.  This lead to the economic problem of trade between the states and rebellion, like Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts.

The U.S. Constitution was created to to end these problems with a federal government that was  supreme.

Declaration Of Independence Read

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyttEu_NLU

Dragon Age RPG

 

Over the past month, my inner geek has returned.  After watching Wil Wheaton's Tabletop series on YouTube, I pulled out a roleplaying game I bought in 2010 at Books A Million.  The game is Dragon Age by Green Ronin and is based on Bioware's computer RPG of the same name. 

And

One of the reasons I bought the game to begin with is the author Chris Pramas wrote the second edition to the Warhammer RPG, which is in my opinion was the best of the Warhammer RPG's.

After watching the above watched videos, I reread the rules and decided I would like to run the game.  Although I never liked level-driven RPGs and character class systems (of which there are only three, warrior, rogue, or mage), like D&D, this one individualized characters by using a focus and talent system.    I really like the way the characters are created by rolling 3d6 that give you modifiers for the eight characteristics, like cunning, strength, and communication. etc...  Then after you have rolled through the eight you get to flip two characteristics.  Then you choose your Dragon Age character class (mage, warrior, or rogue) and background, like Ferelden Freeman, Circle Mage, or Surface Dwarf.  Choosing both character class and background, helps you individualize your character.  This give you pluses to characteristics, talents, and focuses.

About three weeks ago I started to run an adventure with my son and has four friends.  They seem to like it.  My son, Tim has wanted me to run a RPG since I ran a Warhammer campaign about three years ago with some of his friends.  He likes it because both father and son have a geek-like nature.  I just hide it better. 

My campaign started with the characters are members of a caravan guard.  It consists of a Surface Dwarf warrior (my son), a human warrior, a city elf Rogue, a human Circle mage and an elven  Circle mage.   While waiting for the return of the caravan merchant, who was scouting out a new town for business, the players spotted on a hill overlooking the camp the remains of a tower.  On going up to explore the tower, the players (surface dwarf warrior, a human warrior, a city elf Rogue, and a human Circle mage) were attacked by four ghouls, which they dispatched but took enough damage they returned to camp.  On investigating the ruin, they discovered that stairs led down to a lower level.  This ended the first week of play.

Another player was added the second week (city elf Circle Mage) and the character went up to the ruins again and descended into a dungeon.  When they got to the base of the stairs, they noticed that there was a cave-in that blocked a hallway and a door.  They decided to check out the door.  The brash surface dwarf bashed the door down and fell into a pit and sustained some damage.  The room they entered was a jail/dungeon room.  Before the dwarf could be retrieved from the pit, he party was attacked by a giant spider, which was quickly dispatched without much damage to the party.  The party discovered some treasure, a coat of heavy chain armor and an jeweled long sword. 

Since the party was not hurt that bad they decided to go and try to get through the hallway with the cave-in.  It took them about three hours but they removed enough of the rock to enter the hallway where they discovered a stairwell going down.  Once they when down they discovered a large room with stone crypts.  The dwarf and the warrior entered impulsively and were overwhelmed by 10 skeletons (5 spear and 5 bow).  As a result of being hurt badly the party withdrew with the skeletons not following.

Week three,  the party now fully healed attacked the dungeon again.  They were attacked again by the ten skeletons, when they entered the crypt area.  This time they defeated them with little damage to the party as they worked together.  They searched the crypts and discovered a +1 spell power apprentice ring and a +1 viridian medium shield.  They decided that even though there was a large stone door, the party returned to camp to restore hits.

This past week the party entered the crypt again to investigate the stone door way.  When the arrived at the crypt again they were attacked by ten skeletons, which they dispatched quickly.  They entered the stone door and entered a large crypt that was occupied by a shade, that could only be hurt by magic.  The party fought for its life and took damage but eventually defeated the shade. The party searched the crypts after they took a breather to heal wounds In the crypts, the found a tiara, a magic ring that adds to mana, a +1 magic short sword, and a gourget with a barrier rune. 

The night ended as the party returned to camp.  As they were going back, the party noticed from a distance, the caravan owner had returned and the camp was being attacked.  This is where we left off for this coming week......

Veteran Administration Spinal Cord Injury Unit Rec Therapy Donation

After "much" delay, we have finally gave the Hampton VA Recreational Therapy Spinal Cord Injury Unit, the money from the 2012 Guns of August and 2013 Williamsburg Muster raffles. 

The delivery of two $500 pre-paid credit cards was given to the veterans this past week by my wife, Ruthann, who is the social worker on the unit. 

The vets use the money for a variety of reasons, such as for birdseed, supplies for their flower/vegetable garden, coffee for the day room, fishing supplies and bait, maintain the units fish tank, ink for a printer the patients use, and for unit memorial services for vets on the unit, who have passed away.

The convention raffles over the past two years have provided these spinal cord injured veterans with $2000. 

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.

Guns of August 2011

For the past four months, I have been working on putting together Guns of August II, with the other members of the staff.

So far we have 14 vendors

• Miniatures of Chesapeake
• Falcon UK
• BV Traders
• Thoroughbred Minis
• Waterloo Minis
• Atlantis Games
• Dragon's Hoard
• Foxhole Terrain
• Osprey
• Groovy Gecko
• Collins Epic Wargames
• Silver Eagle
• ODGW
• Our Game Shop
• Sgt. Major Minis (possible)

As far as early registration goes, we have just passed the 20 mark with more on the way the closer we are to the convention.

Staff includes Carl, Chuck, Paul, Kriegbaum, Scott, Cliff, Dave, Jeremy, and Dent.

Website: http://www.odms-club.com/convention/

Williamsburg Muster 2011

It is now a week after the Williamsburg Muster and I just want to jot down a few comments.

• First, of all our conventions so far this went off the best. It was the least stressful for me and I believe the other members of the staff
• Our staff, Scott Kidd, Jeremy Crouch, Cliff Creech, Dave Dietrich, Bill Phillips, the DeMaris sisters and the ladies of the con suite did an excellent job.
• Scott covered the front desk, assisted the vendors, and ran four games of Shako.
• Jeremy helped the ladies in the con suite by going out and getting supplies.
• Cliff did an excellent job with the program book. Our next con he will do the book run the PEL and who gets what table. This will take some tasks away from Chuck but this will prevent "Chuck time" and every thing will be ready for Guns of August.
• Dave ran his games and although there were no folks for the Warrior tournament, he was nice enough to play a game with one gentleman who had come for the event.
• I had never met Bill Phillips before the weekend as he was Chuck's friend from Marscon. He did an excellent job at the registration table.
• Kudos go to Cotton Jim Russell as he sat on Friday morning and set up the registration table with Scott Kidd

What I did during the Con.

• Thursday: Helped Carl pack the van with Jim Russell, Brian Compton, and Kai Weaver, arrived at the hotel at around noon and began to set up, I set up the registration area, ate at Carraba's with the group, and played Settlers of America with Carl, Krigbaum, and Oscar.
• Friday: Set up and ran my Go for Broke game: Busting the Bocage, assisted anywhere I could, and helped set up Krigbaum's Go for Broke game. Stayed with Snelling in the hotel room.
• Saturday: Helped cover the registration desk with Bill Phillips, covered the Ballroom while Chuck did the other room, played in Tony Exline's Soldat (I don't like the rules) game that took place on Crete, bought two gently used MBA buildings from Steve Mynes of Age of Glory and a set of skirmish rules called Triumph and Tragedy that I'll try soon.
• Sunday: Wrapped up the event, helped the vendor's out that needed it (Byron Collins got sick and Brian and I helped him to pack), the group debriefed at KFC, and then I went to Carl's to help him unload.

All and all a great con!

Go for Broke game

To prepare for the 2011 Williamsburg Muster, Jon Krigbaum, Oscar Stephenson, Jeremy Crouch and friend, Jeffrey, Scott Kidd, and myself playtested a game of Go for Broke, my WWII skirmish game. Krigbaum and Oscar are planning on running a 25mm village fight using all of Krigbaum's Miniature Building Authority buildings.

We played the game for over 12 hours and had a grand old time.

Krigbaum and Oscar led the Kraut forces. That consisted of a command team, three rifle squads, mortar team with two mortars, three MG teams, two panzerschrek teams, a PAK 40 AT gun, 20mm quad halftrack, halftrack, Opal Blitz, and a 38T Panzer.



Jeremy, Jeffrey, and Scott led the Ami force that consisted of a command team, five rifle squads, three MG teams, two bazooka teams, a mortar team with two mortars, a pack howitzer, white car, halftrack, a jeep, and four Sherman tanks.

I ran the game and a squad of French Resistance.



The game turned out great but in the end a PAK40 and a troll under the bridge with a panzerschreck did the Amis in. The game started at 11:30 am and lasted to 11:30 pm and boy did we have fun.

Things learned

• Americans on the attack need more transport
• Each side having a card with all their units listed that way when we pull the gem out of the "special" opaque container, we could place it on the card to tell us which units have gone.
• Don't give Scott tanks as he runs through walls without provocation and fires over his own men in front of his tank. Ears are still ringing in the American ranks.
• Speed up the turn by pulling the gems much like cards in TSATF until you reach another color or have pulled a go again gem.
• Only allow Jeremy to shoot as he sure sucks at melee. He lost six infantry men in hand-to-hand against two German spotters. It also took a whole other squad to blow these spotters up real good.
• Whatever you do don't give Krigbaum any transportation vehicles as he missed his calling as a bus driver.
• Don't allow Oscar to talk Krigbaum into placing a MG team on a building scaffold.

Aaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeee!!!