HAWKs Host Huge Zombie Mall Game at Har-Con

     This past Saturday, the HAWKs attended the HAR-CON convention put on by the Gamers Guild and Anime Club at Harford Community College, the local county's community college.  This con is a multi-genre con, with video games, role-playing games, card games, board games, miniatures games, anime, and cosplay.   This year's theme was Post-Apocalypse and Zombies, so we decided to run our big Zombie Mall game.
     With the success of last year's large French and Indian War game, we decided we would once again make our main effort a large game where interested gamers could come to the table at any time, be assigned a group of survivors and a mission, and enter into the game with one of the HAWKs to help tutor them in the rules, and then leave whenever they wanted.

     We arrived early to set up, and it wasn't long before we had our first players.  As the day continued we were pleased with the number of folks who stopped by to play, and the consensus was that we had more players this year than in years past.  Attendance at the con as a whole also seemed to be really high.
      Buck Surdu and I, as co-authors of the Zombies by GASLIGHT supplement,  were also asked to take part in a panel discussion on the Post-Apocalypse theme, along with a local author and film-maker.

       The club had a great time as usual, and we are looking forward to returning for another big extravaganza game next year.

     Another HAWKs run game at the con was Kevin Fischer's Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Game using his beautiful collection of 1/144 Gundam models.

HAWKs Attend HAR-CON Gaming Convention

    This past Saturday, the HAWKs attended the HAR-CON gaming convention put on by the game club at the local Harford Community College.  This con is a mixed gaming con, with video games,  role-playing games, card games, board games, and miniatures games.

A group of us posing with the French & Indian War table before the con started.

    The HAWKs presented three games: a large French & Indian War extravaganza using Muskets & Tomahawks rules, a Chaos Wars mass-combat fantasy game, and a Mobile Suit Gundam game.  While the Chaos Wars and Gundam games were somewhat standard, with set start times and number of players; the club designed the big French & Indian War game a little differently.  The game was set-up on a large "T" shaped table, and featured two forts, two villages,, and an Indian settlement; and about a dozen commands of troops ready for any gamers to walk up and play with.  The idea was that the game would run all convention, and interested gamers could come to the table at any time, be assigned a command and a mission, and enter into the game with one of the HAWKs to help tutor them in the rules, and then leave whenever they wanted..

The Fischer brothers' Mobile Suit Gundam game.

     This plan worked out really well, with convention-goers coming and going from the battle the whole day.  It was a lot of fun for the club and for those who came and took part.

The HAWKs help some convention-goers  play in the Muskets & Tomahawks game.

   

Our game was located right under the upper-level balcony, which allowed for some neat aerial shots of the game.  

   

A close shot of the action, as French Cour-De-Bois attack a British-held fort.

      I was fortunate to have the opportunity to play in a couple games at the con.  First I helped fill an empty seat at Rob's Chaos Wars game, which I had never played before.  It was a fun set of rules, and Rob's figures and table are always beautiful and a treat to play with.

Rob explaining the rules to my opponent, Zeb. 

   After lunch, I was one of the panelists, along with David "Zeb" Cook and Buck Surdu, in a Game Designer's  Q&A session.  The event was a lot of fun, and we were all pleasantly surprised that around 25 folks turned out to listen to us, and ask some interesting questions about our experiences with designing games.

David "Zeb" Cook, Buck Surdu, and myself prepare to begin our Game Designers panel discussion. (Photo by Greg Priebe.)

        Later, I joined in with a group of the other fellows from the HAWKs on the patio outside the school's student center to play a game called Johann Sebastian Joust, hosted by Markus Mabson. The game is a non-graphics, digital outdoor game in which each player holds a motion-sensitive hand controller and attempts to not move the controller too much, or it will internally vibrate and then lock the player out of the game.  The game master plays music, fast or slow, from a base station that the controller is linked to, and the faster the music is the less sensitive the hand controller is, and the slower the music is the more sensitive the hand controller is.  As the music plays, each player tries to move around, not disturbing the motion-sensitive hand controller in one of their hands, while at the same time trying to use their other hand to knock the arm of the other players to trigger their motion sensitive hand controller.  Much hilarity ensued!

Playing Joust with the HAWKs.  

Lastly, I played in a card game called "Gloom", run by Emeril Getscher.   In the game you play a dismal and eccentric Victorian family, and each player attempts to be the first to kill off their family in the most depressing ways.  The game was fun and had some interesting tactics to work through.

Myself, at the far end of the table, with some of the HAWKs, playing Gloom.  (Photo by Jamie Colopietro.)

I had a great time at the HAR-CON as did the rest of the HAWKs.  It is a great little one-day  gaming event, and we look forward to returning next year.

HAWKs Host Games at Har-Con

Several members of the HAWKs (Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers) attended Har-Con yesterday and ran five games at the con. This mini gaming convention is put on by Harford Community College's Gaming Club (Harford County, MD) and features video, board, card, RPG, and miniature gaming. The crowd was light due to wonderful spring weather, and those who did attend were scattered amongst the various gaming genres.
The HAWKs had two tables at the con. On one we ran two land battles, and on the other three naval battles.
The first game we ran was my "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII" 1941 Russian Front game, and featured a Russian force attempting to hold open a road as German forces tried to cut it.
We had a nice group of players at this game including two student's of HAWK Greg Priebe, who teaches an online history course at the college, and had offered extra credit to any of his students who played in the game and wrote a two page report about it and it's relation to the history of the actual events.
German forces, attacking from the left side of the table, attempt to cut the road running along the right hand side.

In the final moments of the game the action swirled around a small wooded area that straddled the road as the Russian defenders tried to throw back a couple of German units that had reached the road. In the end the game was declared a German victory.
While I was running this game, James 'Tank' Nickel was running an Uncharted Seas game on the second table. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get any photos of it.
After my game, Buck Surdu set up his GASLIGHT 'Tripod Down' scenario; which features three tripods attempting to rescue the crew of a fourth one that has been destroyed; as local army units try to kill the stranded crew and beat back the rescuers. And on the naval table, Tank set up a 'Fire as She Bears' game featuring Swedish and Russian fleets.

I had a chance to play in this game as the Russian fleet admiral. My lack of skill as a naval commander showed as I was quickly overwhelmed by the Swedish forces.

My fleet (in foreground) comes to grips with part of the Swedish fleet.

Meanwhile, Buck's game was underway on the other table. Three tripods reek havoc on the English countryside.

In the end, despite a stiff defense from the humans, the Martians were declared the victors.

The final game of the night was a WWII naval game run by Tank using 'Naval Thunder'. I got to play in this one too as one of the Italians facing off against the British. I commanded four cruisers.

This was the second naval disaster for me, as lost my first cruiser on the second turn as a lucky British shot caused a freak magazine explosion. Soon after, as I tired to fend off two attacking groups my other ships were sunk or burning. (As seen in the photo above.) In the end the game was declared a British victory.

The HAWKs had a great time, and want to thank the convention organizers who provided everything we asked for, and all the gamers who came out and played in our games. We look forward to coming back next year.