HoytCon 2017

The relatively new family tradition of HoytCon moved this year from the wilds of New Brunswick to the civilization that is Upper Canada. Captain Dan drove in from CFB Gagetown to the all-too-familiar environs of CFB Trenton and the world-famous and eminently-welcoming Trenton Gaming Emporium. Michael hosted a fine weekend of gaming, with seven games stretching from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. It was quite an undertaking as a host and as a participant, I was too exhausted by Sunday morning to take part in either of the Sunday games (although the afternoon funny spacey thing game wasn't in my sights anyway). Many kudos for Michael for putting this together!

You can see the game schedule here: link

6mm Cold War: East Germans v US National Guard, using Battle Captains rules.

Our host is unsure whether we should start drinking or not.

The brothers contemplating their world-conquering strategies.

28mm WWII: Soviets v German Panzer Grenadiers, using Chain of Command rules. The libations have begun (obviously) in the form of banana schnapps (yes, that's right... no self-respecting German NCO would be caught dead in the field without banana schnapps!)

28mm ImagiNations: Gourmandie and Libagioni v KaiserReich, using Black Powder rules.

A view along the Gourmandie lines.

And the corresponding KaiserReich deployment.

Libagioni troops hold the town. 

Clash of the infantry lines, KaiserReich in the foreground, facing the thin red lines of Gourmandie.

The Gourmandie grenadiers turn the KaiserReich flank, supported by the guard battalions (brand new and as yet un-blooded).

"I lost the game slightly less than you..."

A cold evening in the Trenton Gaming Emporium for a Cold War micro-armour game using Battle Captains... this time pitting 1984 Soviets and East Germans v US Cav and Kansas National Guard. As with most of my experiences with Battle Captains, the fun was primarily in the battle of wits and decision-making, rather than in execution of the combat mechanics. The nitty-gritty of the BC mechanics is, to my mind, rather secondary (that's not to say they are unimportant or poorly constructed... quite the opposite actually). But the meat and bones of the rules are the emphasis on the command decisions made by a company commander. At this scale of decision-making, I'm little interested in which vehicle is firing at which enemy infantry section etc. Now, that part of the game is fun too... the shooting and scooting! But as with a real-life company/kampfgruppe commander, the player's mind should be on the bigger picture.

I took the helm of the Soviets and Michael steered the Americans. The game ended with a US victory but as Michael cogently pointed out:

"I lost the game slightly less than you."

And so, onto some pics of the game. Photos of micro-armour games are notoriously difficult to get right so I thought 'd concentrate on the magnificent terrain Michael has put together. In this case, a 12' x 6' table bisected by a broad river, nestled in a wide river valley (although the valley contours are difficult to see in the pics).

 

 

Building 6mm Terrain Boards in under 72 hours, part deux

We did it! After a late night and early morning, Mike and I "completed" the nine boards. Some frantic last minute flocking ensued before we packed them away into the truck along with all of my ImagiNation stuff.

Part three will show off the boards on table and game.

I told Mike immediately after finishing the boards: "that was fun, lets never do this again".  Safe to say, next time we embark upon crafting terrain, we need to plan a little bit more time.

Off to the KHANNNNNN!