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2011 Conference of Wargamers
This year's Conference of Wargamers started with a visit to the battlefield of Naseby hosted by myself and Graham D Evans (and, later, a staging of my miniature version of the battle on the Sunday morning - see my ECW Battles blog for more on these events) ...
It ended with a meeting of the Paul Morris Memorial Prize panel to start the process of selecting the 2011 winner. The prize is sponsored by John Curry's history of wargaming (and, in addition to other benefits, the winner will be entitled to choose a book from John's increasing stable of classic titles). At present, the panel consists of myself, John and John Bassett O.B.E. (the 2010 winner). We are happy to add other enthusiasts to the team, and are keen to look at nominees for the award.
The Paul Morris Prize is awarded to the most innovative non-commercial wargame within the Society's remit. In practice, the game needs to have been presented in a public forum (at a show or event, published in the Internet or similar), but not sold in a fully commercial package.
(COW 2011: a wide variety of games and presentations)
The panel is able to consider reports on games that correspondents have seen in play or played, it is not able to consider games submitted by authors in the expectation that we set them up and evaluate them ourselves (though when we have a short list we will endeavour to see the games in action where we can ...)..
Please contact any of the panel if you wish to join us or if you have a game you wish to nominate.
Over the course of the COW weekend ...
John Bassett's Caesar's Heirs was a fast paced multi format romp through the civil war following Caesar's assassination. I took the role of Mark Antony and immediately set about consolidating my support and hoping to see the decline of my two great rivals ... Octavian (my rival on my own side) and Brutus (the murderous republican) .. as luck would have it both were killed in a great battle which the Triumvirate won, leaving me the greater power in the land.
(Caesar's Heirs: discussion over the theatre map)
It was delightful to see the Republican players gobbling up the power and offices we were able to scatter on the table as the fruits of victory ... Rome indeed is a great she-wolf at her best nursing her little ones.
At game end, only Cimber was left ... isolated but powerful, still holding true to his old-fashioned values, and with a significant force at his disposal. However, the grain was now flowing, and Cimber's army though vast comprised more allies and auxiliaries, less the veteran legions that would dominate a coming battle. He would surely be hunted down.
After dinner both evenings saw the Society's Domino Double Header games out and offering lively entertainment. In one of the hard actions at Harfleur, Henry got himself surrounded. Having bloodied the Captain of the Guard almost to the point of defeat, he confronted a critical decision: one high-powered domino available amongst a handful of low numbers - should this go to the attack and finish the action? Or should he, more sensibly, make sure his defence was adequate as victory looked assured whatever?
(GitS: this time a victory for the English King)
He went for the attack, the Captain just survived and so was able to make the counter. The random counter attack domino was deadly and Henry went down in the breach. There would be no Agincourt - the campaign would end in failure on the muddy coast of France.
You can get a copy of Domino Double Header from the website ... or from us at a show (next outing ... Claymore, of course) ... You will need access to 2 to 4 sets of dominoes.
(The Elephant in the Room: nearing the Roman lines)
Elsewhere, over the weekend, I was engaged by a very varied selection of games and talks, from Mike Elliott's interesting look at the battle (and battlefield) of Quebec to John Curry's sprawling Fletcher Pratt naval game. I very much enjoyed sitting in on the Drury and Brooks Froeschwiller Franco-Prussian tussle, and had a couple of ripping yarns with the WD Display Team North ('Better Red than Dead' - a board game of Red Army careers in which I remained too lowly to get purged - and 'Rollbahn Ost' - Operation Barbarossa in 20 minutes (!), in which my rivals in Army Group Centre took Moscow in less than 10 minutes) ...
For more on the twentieth century COW content, have a look at my P.B.Eye-Candy blog ..
(John Curry's presentation of the Fletcher Pratt Naval Game)
(Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame)
(The battle of Froeschwiller teetering in the balance)
As I've mentioned in the past, COW is also often my only opportunity of the year to sit down with the Society's Life Vice President Phil Barker and chat about relevant topics. We had a good look at some of the burning topics (DBA v3 and such like), and some valuable reminiscences about the early days of ancients gaming. Re DBA 3, I can only pass on Phil's general advice (don't judge it in advance, on the basis of rumours about some isolated changes ... judge the whole game that has resulted extensive input and testing).
COW forms part of a very intensive early July. Campaign took place on the same weekend (so I await reports ... ), meanwhile, I am writing this a week later - already after English Heritage's Festival of History at Kelmarsh Hall.
Some perspective on that event will have to wait for another session (and another batch of photos).
PARTIZAN 2011
Well, I wasn't very impressed with Salute this year, I was so busy at Triples that I scarcely got time to complete urgent business ... but I enjoyed some camera time at Partizan.
The show seemed a little less busy this year (and down the odd trader and a games table or two*) - perhaps, I understand, due to the proximity to Triples, the week before. That, combined with Graham running The Elephant in the Room as our show game, meant I had time for a longer break in the afternoon and got to see the show.
(Graham running The Elephant in the Room)
We are giving an extra bit of exposure to Shows North participation games TEITR and Greyhounds in the Slips this year to support the Society publishing cut out versions in A Domino Double Header as the 2011 incentive project - if you missed the early resubscription you can get a copy from the web store (Society of Ancients games) or from the stand at shows ... and at some of the Northern Shows, we will be running it (so you can get a quick start, too).
(what you get in the game pack)
In the pack, you get a double sided A2 play board (one game either side), rules booklet plus all the cards, and fold up playing pieces for those who don't have figures that they would prefer to use instead.
You need to provide 2 to 4 sets of dominoes (preferably in a shuffling bag), and for GitS, a couple of dice. Let the Dominoes Decide - also available - has the basic game plus lots of additional resources for using the Anno Domino combat system in the Roman Arena.
At Partizan Graham played the elephant game through 7 or 8 times, including some thrilling finishes (though the velites eventually prevailed in all cases) ...
(Pachyderm down - shots from the game)
I trust you will indulge some pictures of the game where (one-time psales volunteer) Sarge made a long awaited return to ancients and characteristically tried to do too much too soon (yep that's both his velites lying on their sides). In the end the other two players went on to dispatch the elephant just before it reached the Roman lines.
Partizan also offered an opportunity to try (or in my case chat to the authors about ...) some of the new crop of ancients games.
(click on the pictures for a bigger version)
(Plataea - War & Conquest)
Rob Broom was there with War and Conquest (and a version of the Battle of Plataea), Great Escape Games had a try out table for Clash of Empires ... and if that wasn't enough 'new' ancients, Phil Hendry and Richard Clarke were there with a development version of Augustus to Aurelian (watch the news pages ...!).
(Clash of Empires)
(Augustus to Aurelian)
The DBA campaign in a day participation game was also running - in this case in Medieval Italy. Loads of good stuff in this game, and very well presented. The core, of course, was a day long sequence of DBA participation games.
(DBA - The Italian Job)
And that was just a quick tour of the more fascinating ancient and medieval offerings: there was much, much, more ... some good ideas, and some nice presentations.
There is more of that splendid ECW 'Worcester' game on ECW Battles in Miniature ...
Now I know (despite all the help I have offered) that a lot of browsers on this blog are taken with the 28mm eye candy, so here's a couple more shots of Phil Hendry's stuff ...
Watch out for the Shows North stand at Phalanx, where we will be running a DBA participation table all day (your chance to beat the team!) ...
*that said, a number of people complained that there was nowhere to sit down and eat the lunch they had bought from the cafeteria - something the hosts are going to have to sort out: Hammerhead
, in the same venue, had a room given over ... Partizan can be almost as bad as Britcon for this.
Salute 2011
This year, the Salute display was not as we had originally planned ... Although we booked in advance, and forwarded details earlier than we had done last year, we were deemed 'too late' and were only grudgingly given two 2.5x6' tables for our entire area (less than half what was required just for the 28mm Lost Battles display we had scheduled).
(Corporate - and chauvinistic - Salute)
In some ways, perhaps, this might not be a surprise - although vast, Salute at ExCel is clearly becoming the creature of the vast commercial 28mm operators (and 28mm, includes, of course FoW 15mm WW2 ...).. And to be a volunteer-run, historically based enthusiast club is clearly going out on a limb (and will seemingly get you flung out on a limb..)..
(Harfleur scratch-built in 90mm)
With the reduced space available, I was asked to step in with Greyhounds in the Slips. It fits into a small space, and we hoped the big 90mm skirmish figures would somehow bring us out into view a little ...
I built this ruined building for the interior of Harfleur to raise up one of our caption boards. Although you wouldn't really know, it is actually quite big, and might stand out in other venues.
( ... and upon this charge, Cry 'God for Harry, England and St George')
This made Salute the public launch of A Domino Double Header, the new Society of Ancients publication featuring The Elephant in the Room and Greyhounds in the Slips.
A Domino Double Header is available from the Society of Ancients. Compiled by Graham Evans, Graham describes what you get on his blog (Wargaming for Grown Ups/Domino Double Header)
I think the corporates know how important it is to stand out in ExCel's amorphous vastness, already, so have used their money to create zones within the show in which they can waste space in order to be as big as their brand demands (space, I guess, which would otherwise go to clubs and Societies).
So, the first requirement is a big table, even if the bit you play on is no larger than wargaming at home. Fill the rest out with a camp, or a random town or just an empty space.
(Warlord Games/Hail Caesar)
Needless to say, it often works very pleasingly ... having enjoyed the Kadesh game at the BattleDay, I wandered over to the Hail Caesar game. It was splendid, and very well presented. There were enough of the 'professional style' Romans to look the piece, and the game was being played.
Unlike the BattleDay, Rick wasn't actually running the game himself, but was on the Warlord stand signing copies of the glossy book.
The 'more is more' approach was best exemplified by Gripping Beast. It is quite telling that I managed to get a photograph of the Maldon game with nobody even near it (and that's quite random - I can only take pictures on my break, so if the game looks unmanned that's how it was when I went snapping). Lost in the middle of that picture is a wargame.
(Gripping Beast/Maldon)
A wargame you could equally have fitted on your dining table at home. As I'm sure will show up in other people's pictures, gobbled up by their long lenses, once you reach into the green, there are some quite splendid figures in there ...
Do all those piles of odd dice mean it is WAB? They didn't add much to the spectacle - but I can't tell you much else as there was nobody around to explain any of it. Presumably they were taking money off punters (really the whole object of the event, for them and their customers).
The side table with ships and campers on it was splendid, but appeared only to be there to ensure the game took up even more space.
I remember Philip Sabin did one of these battles for the Society of Ancients many years ago back when Salute was in Kensington Town Hall. It was using 'Shieldwall', an earlier version of his historical games system (and published in Slingshot). It might have been Maldon. 25mm, it would have fitted on that side table. It got played all day long. Times have changed.
(Crush the Kaiser)
I must admit, really, this was one of the duller Salutes. I suppose the big corporate zones are off putting to those of us who haven't joined the faith, but their sheer size and sameness tends to swamp everything else ... so the little gems fade away into the 'much of a muchness'.
I thought the 'Crush the Kaiser' mud was better than the Gallipoli sand (part of the Battlefront zone) ... and I thought (part of the Victrix zone) the painted backdrop to the Peninsula game was well worth the effort (somehow a way of shutting out the 'Excel shed' effect that I was surprised succeeded so well ...)
One of the most refreshing games (again, almost lost in the crowd) was this excellent ECW game of the Siege of York. Not rectangular! How long has it taken?
My 'Welcome to Jerusalem' of a decade ago was, of course, not rectangular - but sort of became rectangular when it went down on rectangular shows pitches. 'By The Pike Divided' had managed to lap their irregular shape over the tables in such a way as to preserve the shape. Maybe their table had its own legs.
Full versions of those pictures on ECW Battles (here ...)..
Verneuil
(The Battle at Verneuil)
But I'll finish on a high spot ... Lance & Longbow's 28mm Verneuil game, which won Best Demonstration Game ('Figures by Simon Chick, Darrell Hindley and Nick Palmer. Terrain provided by Simon Chick') ...
(the English camp)
August 1424, England's 'Second Agincourt', Verneuil is the battle where the ground was famously baked so hard the English couldn't use their stakes effectively and got broken thorough by heavily armoured Italian mercenaries. On a fearfully bloody day, however, Bedford's English still prevailed over its Franco-Scottish enemies.
More pictures of Verneuil (La Journee)
Simon Chick's blog (Je Lay Emprins)
(Anglo-Burgundians)
So, in the end, a reasonable day out for the Society - and probably a good day out for the visitor (though I'd have thought the average punter gets a better deal from Triples or Warfare these days, unless the corporate zoning really matters to them ..)..
Salute is changing. And even though it may not be in a good way, it might be that we have to change with it, in order to allow our unique SoA brand to be shown on fair terms with the overblown machines of corporate wargaming that will otherwise and happily drown it in the pursuit of profit.
How? is a different question.
Boy, it has been a busy and exhausting Spring.