MillenniumCon day 3 (a.m.)

The third day of the convention, I joined my brother in a huge American Civil War game using the Black Powder rules and the Warlord epic scale minis.

Although we had historical forces (from the battle of Shiloh, I think), the scenario itself was ahistorical, with the Rebels trying to advance on the Union camps, and the North trying to hold off the Southerners long enough for reinforcements to arrive. I was the Yankees on the far left, including that lone regiment in the cornfield.

My goal as the Union commander was to try to delay long enough for other Northern forces to get to the battle. Somehow, that single regiment held off advancing brigades, and I deployed my other forces in line to stop the advancing Rebs.

There was a lot of shooting, both artillery and musket fire, with both sides inflicting casualties. Many units became shaken, meaning they couldn't do much, and some units ended up whipped, but remained on the battlefield.

We even got a few infantry charges in (on both sides), but I didn't make a single command roll to get my cavalry moving the entire battle.

When time was up, the Union had won by holding off the Confederates, and I won a tape measure for my regiment's brave stand against the Confederate onslaught. It was a fun time.

MillenniumCon 2021 (day 1)

MillenniumCon 2021 was last weekend, and I had a blast. I saw people I haven't seen in two years and got in plenty of gaming, including two sessions of my Monopolis setup. 

The convention started on a Thursday, with evening games. Since it was just down the road, I showed up after lunch on Thursday to help set up tables. Then I went home and waited for my brother to drive in, and after dinner we went back to the venue to push minis and roll dice.

I took part in a Spanish Civil War game, using modified Memoir '44 rules. The scenario was two players as the Nationalists vs. three of us as the Republican forces, including Anarchist and Communist forces. Our goal was to prevent the Fascists from getting all the way down the table to Madrid.

I took the Commies, and tried to delay the Nationalists as much as possible by ordering my forces to hold villages to the last man. It kind of worked, as when time ran out, our opponents had not reached more than halfway to their objective. 

Meanwhile, my brother took to the arena in Ludus Gladitorius, where he ended up getting killed off in the mass combat. 

All in all, a fun start to the weekend. Anyone else reading this who attended MillCon?

Pics from MillCon day two

The first full day of this year's MillenniumCon had plenty of eye candy. There was the World War II game which spanned several tables (above) and this Wings of War setup with bombers and escorts (below):

There was a nice Stalingrad setup for Bolt Action:

And a western town for Fistful of Lead:

As well as this sci-fi terrain for Gates of Antares:

A great freighter centerpiece for modern-day Spectre Operations:

And some 3-D terrain for good old Melee:

I also ran my two games; more about that later.

First day of MillCon

MillenniumCon began on a Thursday this year, with all the games immediately getting filled before I could register. I went anyway, just to hang out and see some gaming buddies.

This Napoleonics game was being set up, but it's not scheduled until tomorrow. These miniatures are some original lead minifigs.

There was also a gladiator game being run. I didn't know that they fought giraffes in the coliseum. Looking forward to playing some minis tomorrow.

Testing Test of Honour

I recently had a chance to try out Test of Honour, a skirmish game involving samurai and other feudal Japanese warriors. We didn't play an actual scenario from the rules, but an introductory game where the goal was to remain within a certain distance of the objective markers while keeping the opponent's troops away.

You draw chits to activate your units, with ordinary troops having one chit each and samurai having three; therefore, samurai can do a lot in a turn when compared to the rank-and-file. However, there is also a chit that will end the turn for everyone. And since the battle usually ends after a certain number of turns, this throws some uncertainty into the game.

The battle I played was very swingy--meaning that first my opponent had the advantage, while I was losing troops thanks to adverse die rolls. However, the combat reversed course when I had a string of good rolls and was able to defeat my enemy. It was an interesting game, and I would like to see how it plays using a scenario from the book.

GaMExpo pix

GaMExpo was kind of a bust as far as people who wanted to play minis games. The wargaming room was upstairs, away from the rest of the convention, so foot traffic was sparse. On the bright side, I got to see some other games that people were GMing, like this setup for Sharpe Practice.

Although the rules are more aimed at an earlier period, the person running the game was using it for a Napoleonic scenario.

And the semi-historical pirates game Blood & Plunder had a nice Spanish settlement set up.

There was also a superhero game, X-Men vs. Avengers, so everyone could play the good guys.

This had nice modern-day town terrain. I think that's Nightcrawler from the X-Men on the roof.

There was also some BattleTech--more precisely, Alpha Strike, a sped-up, stripped-down version of the game that gets rid of the rivet-counting but still feels like playing giant stompy robots.

The scenario was a king of the hill-type game, where you got points for keeping near the objective markers.

I also set up my Monopolis map, but I didn't get that much use out of it. More in a later post.

Seven Years War game

One of the good things about game conventions is that you have a chance to try rules or genres you don't ordinarily play. It's nice to get out of my sci-fi comfort zone every once in awhile.

For me, that means trying out at least one historical game at MillenniumCon. This year I played in a refight of the Battle of Emsdorf using Fire & Fury rules.

It was a Friday morning game, in the first time slot of the con. The figures and table looked great, and it was a good way to start off a weekend of gaming.

I took some French regiments, and as the game was ending sent my infantry charging into the English guns.

The move somehow ended up succeeding, so even though we ran out of time, I feel like I accomplished something. But even if it hadn't, I tried something new.

Trying out Team Yankee

I recently played my first-ever game of Team Yankee, the Flames of War spinoff based on the concept of the 1980s Cold War turning hot.

A couple of experienced players guided me and another newbie in a game, I took a force of Soviet armored infantry, tanks, artillery, and even some Hinds. My opponent played the West Germans.

The helicopters weren't much use. They didn't get a chance to take out many enemies before the NATO antiaircraft shot down three of them, causing the last chopper to flee.

My infantry was more successful at close-assaulting enemy vehicles, and their motto was "Forward!" The T-72s, however, didn't fare as well versus the West German's panzers. In the end, the capitalist lackeys managed to hold off the heroes of the workers' paradise.

The game mechanics were nothing innovative, but it was a fun game with a lot of maneuver all over the table. And it played really quick, thanks to our instructors' thorough knowledge of the rules. I'm glad I tried it.

Hail Caesar battle report

I played my first game of Hail Caesar last fall at MillenniumCon. Last weekend, I had a chance to play another game with the local players who introduced it to me at the convention. I took a force of Roman auxiliaries, while the two other players on my side had actual legions.

We faced off against a couple of Celt armies. The Romans' goal was to recover three battle standards that had been stolen by the barbarians. Their goal was to stop us. Unfortunately, the player did not make several command rolls, meaning his army stood and watched while mine advanced.

I like these shots of my heavy auxiliaries (above) and medium auxiliaries (below) moving out toward the enemy.

I also had a cavalry detachment. In Hail Caesar, infantry don't usually stand up to a mounted charge.

These barbarians were no exception; they turned and ran as my cav hit them.

Meanwhile, the legions commanded by the other players were getting into it heavy with the other barbarian forces.

A lot of back-and-forth, as each side threw in all their available troops.

Even the generals joined the battle, adding their dice to the total that each unit in combat rolled.

Finally, the barbarians made a roll to get another force on the board. By this time, the Romans had recovered two of their standards and were backing away from the battlefield. We called the game, which everyone enjoyed.

It was a fun learning experience, and I hope to play Hail Caesar again soon.