The HAWKs Travel to Nashcon

    This past weekend, a group of five of the HAWKs: Buck Surdu, Geoff Graff,  Greg Priebe, Don Hogge, and I, headed down to Nashcon in Franklin, TN.  We rented a mini van to carry us, our figures, and the terrain we would need for 6 games.  It was a bit of a challenge squeezing everything into the vehicle, but we managed it somehow.  Part of the plan was that we would re-use the same two sets of terrain for the 5 different games.  Thursday afternoon we headed out and arrived at the con Friday morning.

Figuring out how to fit it all in, so no one had to ride on the roof rack!

Our first game, Friday afternoon, was Don Hogge's (In the blue shirt) "Island Raid Pt 1"  game, using Battleground rules. This game featured American Marines and Paratroopers trying to seize a Japanese radio installation. 

A close up of the game as the Americans approach a Japanese emplacement.

Here's a long view of Don's table, and a general look at the main gaming hall. In the end, the American's won, having destroyed the Japanese radio hut with a white phosphorous round.

After Don's game, Buck Surdu (in blue shirt) ran "Island Raid Pt 2" on the same table using the same terrain.  This time it was a Japanese counterattack into the compound that the American's had just captured, using Combat Patrol rules.   The American troops were left in the general positions they had ended the game in the first session.  

A close up of the table at the start of Buck's game.   You can see the radio hut and bunker are still burning from the first game. 

Saturday morning. Buck, Greg Priebe, and I ran a large "Battle for Paris, 1814" game using Fate of Battle rules.  In theis game, and allied coalition of Russians and Prussians are attempting to seize the Montmartre Heights outside the city of Paris to force a French surrender. 

A close up of Russian troops charging the French hasty fortifications.  Their initial success put the whole French line in jeopardy, but stiff French resistance eventually drove them back. 

Buck (in blue shirt) helps players with a melee as the Russians desperately try to maintain their foothold on the heights. In the foreground, the Prussian troops can be seen putting pressure on the French right flank. 

Saturday afternoon, Buck, Greg, and I ran "The Battle for the Elven Capital", using the same terrain and basic troops deployments as the "Battle of Paris" game.  This time though, Elves replaced the French, and an alliance of Insectmen, Dwarves, and Beastmen were the attackers.  We used Bear Yourselves Valiantly rules

A look at the Allied left, as Beastmen prepare to storm the Elven right flank.  A force of Elf Knights desperately tries to hold the bridge over a canal. 

In the end, the Insectmen, and Dwarves drove a deep wedge in the Elven lines, and had reached the second level of the heights.  With very little left to stop them, the game was called as an Allied victory.

Saturday night we re-set the "Island Raid" terrain from Friday for Greg's "The Lost Soldier" game using Dr Who Miniatures Rules.   In this running, it was 15 years after the battle featured in the earlier games, and now a developer is set on turning the island into a luxury resort.  But all is not as it seems, and the Doctor and his companions have arrived to investigate. 

The game was a lot of fun, and I was lucky enough to get to play.  There were Daleks, Autons, lost Japansese soldiers and all kinds of baddies lurking on the island.  Also Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamore happened by, as well as some lost boy scouts, and perennial HAWK Pulp hero, Duke Morrison. 

The HAWKs had a great time as always at Nashcon.  It is a really well run show with a lot of great folks attending.  We look forward to our next trip back to Tennessee!

HAWKs Saturday NASHCON Games Report

This past weekend 6 members of the the HAWKs (Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers) made a road trip down to the NASHCON gaming convention near Nashville, TN, to host over a dozen games. We were up early Thursday morning to load a 12-passenger van we had rented full of all our gaming equipment and suitcases, and we arrived at the convention hotel late that night after a 12 hour drive from Maryland. We were up early again Friday to unpack our van and set up for our afternoon and evening games. We ran 5 games on Friday, and you can read about them here.
Saturday we were back to the convention room bright and early to begin a full day of gamemastering. In the morning slot, Buck Surdu ran a Napoleonic game using "Fate of Battle" rules. The scenario was the Battle of Mincio Feb. 8, 1814.

I once again ran my Battle of Five Armies game using "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" (BYV) rules.  You can read a report about all the BYV games here.

On the third HAWKs table, Don Hogge and Greg Priebe ran a "Muskets and Tomahawks" game.

In the afternoon slot Duncan Adams ran a WWII game, The Battle of Maissin Aug. 22, 1914, using a modified combination of "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII" and "A Union So Tested" rules

At the same time, Dave Wood was running a fantasy game called Rescue the Prince using BYV rules.  You can read about it at the BYV report link above.

And, in the same time slot Don and Greg were running a second session of "Muskets and Tomahawks"

We wrapped up the evening with two games.  The first was Dave's ancients battle featuring Romans vs Germanic Barbarians, again using BYV.

The second game was a 10 player GASLIGHT Undersea Extravaganza run by Buck and myself.  You can read a full report on the game here.

This was our second year at NASHCON, and once again we had a great time.  We want to thank the organizers and all the gamers who dropped by to play or just say "hi" for showing us such hospitality.   We will be sure to return again in the future.

HAWKs Friday NASHCON Games Report

This past weekend 6 members of the HAWKs (Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers) made a road trip down to the NASHCON gaming convention near Nashville, TN, to host over a dozen games.  We were up early Thursday morning to load a 12-passenger van we had rented full of all our gaming equipment and suitcases, and we arrived at the convention hotel late that night after a 12 hour drive from Maryland.  We were up early again Friday to unpack our van and set up for our midday games. I was slated to run "The Battle of Five Armies" using BYV in the first game slot of the con starting Friday at 2:00. You can read a report of that here.

The Battle of Five Armies

 In the same session Duncan Adam was running his homegrown WWII fast play naval rules, combining aspects of the popular fantasy naval rules Uncharted Seas and the Axis an Allies Naval miniatures game.  He has nicely modified and combined these rules into a fun historical naval game.

Charted Seas WWII naval game

On  a nearby table Buck Surdu was running his under-development G.A.M.E.R WWII skirmish rules, in a scenario called "Commandos Strike at Dawn". It involved British commandos striking a German coastal installation to steal an encryption device.  The fast and furious rules are totally card driven and have diceless combat resolution.

G.A.M.E.R WWII skirmish game

In the Friday evening session, Greg Priebe ran a Dr Who Miniatures game which saw the Doctor and his companions landing the TARDIS in the middle of a French and Indian War battle where they sought to undo an ancient curse which lingered in the timeless forest of western PA

Dr Who, and his companions, River, Rory and Amy, make their way through a unit of Rangers unopposed, with the help of  the Doctor's psychic paper

An overview of the Dr Who table

Also in the Friday evening session, Duncan was running a War of 1812 game using Wellington Rules.  The scenario took place a few weeks before the Battle of New Orleans, as Andrew Jackson's forces attempted to repulse the British vanguard in a fierce night battle.

Duncan Adams does a rules briefing prior to the start of his War of 1812 game.

American forces move towards the British encampment in Duncan's War of 1812 game.

GASLIGHT Undersea Extravaganza Game Wins Award at NASHCON

This past weekend the HAWKs (Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers) made a road trip down to the NASHCON gaming convention near Nashville, TN, to host over a dozen games. The big showcase game on our line-up was a 12 player GASLIGHT Undersea Extravaganza, using figures, vehicles, and beasties from both Buck Surdu's and my collections.  We arrived at the convention hotel late Thursday night after a 12 hour drive from Maryland, and were up early Friday to unpack our van and set up for our midday games.  The Extravaganza was slated to run during the Saturday night game slot.

Buck and I with our award.

   We set up the game with four factions, a human exploration party, Fishmen, Atlanteans, and a "Bad Guy" human party.  Each team had it's own list of objectives such as, Loot the Atlantean Temple, Steal secrets from the crashed submarine, destroy the exploration party's power plant, etc..
  We were pleased to get 10 folks signed up for the game, ranging from young to old.  After Buck gave a rules brief things got underway.  The action was fast and furious, and there was lots of carnage,  and cantankerous vehicles to contend with; and of course, laughter, cheers, and groans of frustration when things didn't go according to plan.   Everyone seemed to have a great time, including Buck and I, and we had many passers-by stop and comment on the uniqueness and coolness of the game.  Most of all, we were pleasantly surprised when the folks from CigarBoxBattle.com awarded us a Superior Game Presentation Award for our time slot.
 Below are some photos of the action.

Buck briefing the rules.

A view of the action early in the game.

A group of divers falls upon some Fishmen who were  in the process of looting the sunken pirate ship.

The Fishmen's Giant Octopus attacks the Atlanteans Underwater Walker.

An Atlantean Ray Lancer attempts to hit one of the Exploration Party's Attack Subs with a spar torpedo.

General chaos ensues around the wrecked submarine.  In the lower left of the photo, you can see that the Octopus has managed to topple the Walker and is now scuffling with a unit of Atlanteans.

Units from the Exploration Party carry valuable artifacts away from the Atlantean Temple.

"Bear Yourselves Valiantly" Demo Games at NASHCON

This past weekend the HAWKs (Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers) made a road trip down to the NASHCON gaming convention near Nashville, TN, to host over a dozen games.  Featured among these games were four demo games of our upcoming rules for Fantasy, Ancients, and Medieval mass combat, "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" (BYV).
  We arrived at the convention hotel late Thursday night after a 12 hour drive from Maryland, and were up early Friday to unpack our van and set up for our midday games.  I was slated to run "The Battle of Five Armies" using BYV in the first game slot of the con starting Friday at 2:00.

A view of my Battle of Five Armies table.

  I had a nice turn out of players, and Dave Wood kindly offered to assist me in my gamemaster duties.  After a rules briefing, we got down to playing the game. We had one player commanding the Elves, another the Men and Dwarves, and two more taking charge of the Goblin and Warg forces.

Dave explains a fine point of closing into combat to one of the Goblin/Warg players  as the Elven player watches.

  The Goblins and Wargs rushed forward as the Allies formed up and moved to meet their attackers.

The other Goblin/Warg player advances a unit of Wargs towrds the Men of Laketown.

The Goblin and Warg forces pressed hard, and despite many losses were deemed to be the victors at games end, having critically damaged the Allied contingents.  Unfortunately, we had to end the game right before the arrival of the Giant Eagles due to time constraints.

Gandalf puts a spell on two of the Warg units causing them to quarrel amongst themselves and attack each other.

Saturday morning I ran the Battle of Five Armies game again for another four players, and once again Dave Wood kindly offered to assist in the gamemastering.

A view early in the game on Saturday morning.

  In this running the Allies were able to stiffen their defenses and the Goblins and Wargs on the right had trouble coordinating their attacks. So in the end, with the Goblins and Warg armies badly damaged, the Allies were determined to be the winners.

The Elves defend at the base of one of the mountain's arms as the Goblins and Wargs move to find a weak spot

Saturday afternoon Dave Wood ran a game of BYV using his collection of 25mm fantasy troops.  The scenario, called "Rescue the Prince", involved an Elvish force tasked with rescuing a Elf Prince and his retinue who have gotten themselves trapped behind enemy lines.  Their way is barred by a forces of Ratlings, Goblins, Bugbears and Skeletons.

Dave's 25mm fantasy troops based on magnetic stands for BYV.  Goblins and Elves battle at the rivers edge.

  At games end the "bad guy" side was determined to be the victor, as the Elves' forces were not able to break through to the prince.

Dave watches as a player rolls his dice to determine if his unit stands to receive a charge

Saturday evening Dave ran a similar scenario, called "Rescue the Legate", this time featuring Romans and Germanic Barbarians.

25mm Germanic Barbarians defend the river line.

     Unfortunately, I was running a GASLIGHT game at the same time, so don't know the details of the battle, but was able to hop over to Dave's table and snap some pictures of what looked like a hard fought battle.

Dave explaining the rules at the beginning of the game.

Romans and Barbarians clash along the river line.

We were very pleased with the way our BYV games went, and had a great time at the convention in general.  The players seemed to really enjoy the rules, some coming back to play in more than one of our games.  Many of the participants were eager to know when the rules would be available, and we were happy to tell them it wouldn't be long now as we plan to have them released for Historicon in July.

The HAWKs Expeditionary Force at Nashcon '13

A group of Gamemasters from the HAWKs (Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers)made the long trip from Maryland to Tennessee this past weekend to attend HMGS Midsouth's gaming convention, Nashcon 2013. Don Hogge, Greg Priebe, Buck Surdu, Dave Wood, and myself, made the 13 hour drive on Thursday May 23rd arriving at the convention hotel in Franklin, TN late that night. We had a great time during our visit to the con, had a blast running over a dozen games, and met some really friendly people.   

The gang unloads the trailer. You haven't really lived until you've travel in a Subaru pulling a trailer full of lead 13 hours with 5 gamers. :-)

We were up early Friday morning to unload the trailer carrying all our gaming material, and afterwards began setting up our Friday afternoon games. For the first gaming session, from 2:00-6:00, we had scheduled Greg Priebe's "Gunga Dalek" game using the Dr Who Miniatures Game rules, Buck Surdu's "Battle of Vauchamps, 14 Feb. 1814" using Fate of Battle rules, and my "Jasper Flint Saves the Queen" using GASLIGHT rules. We were happy to have a full compliment of players sign up for all our games.

A view of my Jasper Flint GASLIGHT table

My Jasper Flint GASLIGHT game was set in a deserted Texas town in 1880, where Prussian agents have taken the Queen of England after kidnapping her during a goodwill visit to the United States.  Marshal Jasper Flint has tracked the villains to the town, where he and his posse, along with a contingent of US Marines, and British Guard troops attempt to rescue the monarch, as the Prussians await a zeppelin flying in from Mexico to take the Queen out of the county. The zeppelin arrives, and the game ends, after 12 turns.

Jasper Flint, foreground with white hat, moves up as a Prussian Krieghosen clockwork-walker peeks around the corner of a building.

The game began with the Allied forces racing into the town from three different table edges, searching for the Queen, who  the Prussians had hidden in one of the buildings on the table.  The Prussians and their hired mercenary gunslingers put up a stiff defense as the Allies began to made their way into the town.

 Prussian soldiers try to defend across a fence as Marines charge them.

  Only a couple turns had passed before the Flint's posse discovered Queen Victoria being held in the blacksmith's shop on the east side of town. The Prussians quickly began to move the now revealed monarch to a safer location.  This set the stage for the rest of the game as the chase was on with the Good Guys trying to get to the Queen before the Prussian zeppelin could arrive, and the Prussians trying to evade them

The final struggle.  Jasper Flint and Major Edleweiss battle on the outskirts of town as the squad of Marines moves to assist.

The game was really exciting, and ultimately came down to the wire, as Jasper Flint and the Prussian officer, Major Edleweiss (who was escorting the captive Monarch) engaged in a titanic hand to hand struggle that lasted several rounds.  Finally, just as a basket was being lowered from the zeppelin on turn 12, the Marshal dispatched the Prussian officer and freed the Queen.

Buck Surdu (blue shirt) running his Battle of Vauchamps 1814 game

  For the Friday night session, from 8:00 to midnight, I ran "Scouring the Goblin Scourge from Wolffang Valley" using Bear Yourselves Valiantly mass combat fantasy, ancients & medieval rules. These rules are the latest installment of the "Look, Sarge, No Charts" series of rulebooks. The game features a force of High and Wood Elves, who are trying to drive of some Goblins and Wildmen, who have begun occupying the verdant valley and setting up their settlements.  The Elves are tasked with destroying at least two of the three settlements on the table, while the Goblins need to defend their homes.

A view of the table for my  "Scouring the Goblin Scourge" game

   The Elven players chose to press hard on both the outlying settlements, while leaving their center relatively open.  Meanwhile, the Goblins braced to defend along their entire front.  The forces quickly came to blows, and while the Wood Elves on the Elven left slowly pushed the Wildmen there back, the Goblins defending on the Elven right, put of a stiff resistance and were able to blunt the Elves' attacks.

Wood Elf forces cross over a river to engage the enemy

High Elf forces advance towards their Goblin foes

   The battles seesawed back and forth, but the Elves were never able to achieve the break through they needed, thanks in part to some heroic stands by some of the Goblin commanders and their retinues on the Elven right, who more than once managed to stand their ground despite overwhelming odds. On the Elven left, though, the Elves pushed the Wildmen back until they were fighting on the outskirts of the settlement.

A Goblin commander (on Warg in center of photo) manages to blunt the attack of a unit of Elven knights

  Eventually, the Goblins were able to launch a counter attack towards the weak Elven center, which marked the end for the Elven attack.  And so, as we came to end  of our game time, the battle was declared a  major Goblin victory

Another view of the battle.

 We were up again early Saturday morning, to set up our Session Three games.Buck, Greg and I were running a 14 player Mars by GASLIGHT Extravaganza game on two of the table pushed together, while Dave was doing a WWII Battle of the Cauldron game using Look, Sarge, No Charts rules.  

A look at the Mars by GASLIGHT table before the game.

  The Mars game was great fun as a force of British (including line troops, and a legion of Female Hussars) and their Red Martian and Sandwar allies, faced off against some Prussians and their Green Martians, Cephalopod, and Sandwar allies.  Besides being a straight up battle, the British side was also tasked from rescuing Dejah Thoris from their opponents, while the Prussian side was tasked with recovering some ancient technology from a ruin on the British team's side of the table

A Sanwar Gun Beast and supporting troops

  The battle got off to a quick start as a  4-armed Green Martian mounted on  a Thoat moved against a British NCO carrying a hand held Gatling. The Martian quickly ran the officer through with his lance, but not before the Sergent was able to wound the Martian and knock him from his mount.  Soon the the Martian was felled by a volley from a nearby British squad.

Buck Surdu (leaning across table in blue shirt), Greg Priebe (pointing in blue shirt) and I GM-ed the game.

  All across the table forces maneuvered for position. And while the forces on one end of the table were slow to engage, a large melee developed in the center and the opposite end of the table.

Red Martians fire at approaching Green Martians

   On the one end of the table one of the Female Hussar armored cars moved to engage a group Green Martians, who in turn charged the armored car. The Martians pounded with their weapons on the car, as it managed to ram a couple of the martians. The Martians in turn where able knock the car so violently that they killed a hussar officer who was riding in the vehicle. Seeing their armor support in trouble, a unit of the Hussars mounted on biped lizards raced to charge the Green Martians attacking the armored car. Soon a large skirmish was underway as Green Martian, Armored Car, and Lizard mounted Hussars all thrashed away at each other. The mounted Hussars took heavy casualties but where able to all but destroy the unit of Green Martians, and the armored car came out of the engagement a battered wreck with its main gun and engine damaged.

A swirling melee of Green Martians, lizard mounted Female Hussars, and an Armored Car

In the center of the table was the other "furball" of a battle. It began with a pair of White Apes, controlled by group of Green Martians, charging towards a Sanwar cannon on the British side. As the Apes made their way towards the cannon, they were intercepted by a unit of horse mounted Hussars. As this hand-to-hand fight proceeded, the other Hussar armored car joined in on the British side, as did a unit of Green Martians in support of the White Apes. A swirling melee ensued with heavy casualties on all side, though, the White Apes seemed to be doing the most damage while taking little themselves.

Another wild engagement as White Apes, Green Martians, horse mounted Hussars, and an Armored Car fight in close quarters.

  In the end the battle was determined to be won by the Prussian side.  They were able to retain control of Dejah Thoris and recover the ancient technology.

A view of the main gaming area on Saturday afternoon.

   In the afternoon, for Session 4, I set up my second Bear Yourselves Valiantly game of the con.  Unfortunately I only had one player show up.  I gave him the choice of either going and finding another game with more players to play in, or stay and do a one-on-one tutorial game with me.  He opted to stay and do the tutorial game with me, which proved to be a lot of fun , and a nice little game. 

My second "Bear Yourselves Valiantly" game

We sectored off one end of the table and used the two fore which had been set up there, force of High Elves and an opposing force of Skeletons.  The battle went back and forth with casualties being relatively even for the first few turns, but eventually I was able to get my repeating bolt thrower into a good firing position, and it began to rack up hits of the skeletons. And, my Elven Knights got the better rolls in a cavalry engagement and found themselves ideally situated in the Skeleton's flank.  It turned out to be a fun little engagement, and it was nice being able to teach a player one on one.

Elven knights prepare to sweep around the Skeleton's flank

  With just the one player, and the reduced forces, my game ended a couple hours early; so I took the opportunity to take some photos of the other HAWKs games, and then shop the dealers around the wall of the gaming area.  The con really had a great assortment of dealers.

Greg Priebe (in blue shirt) GM's his "A Fist Full of Daleks" game

   Greg Priebe ran his "A Fist Full of Daleks,"  a Dr Who game set in the Wild West. The players seemed to be having a great time and there was lost of cheering and laughing as the game progressed.

Daleks move down the street of a Wild West town

  Dave Wood ran another "Look, Sarge, No Charts:WWII game, this one was Hell's Highway during operation Market Garden.

Dave Wood (in blue shirt) GM's his "Hell's Highway" game

Another view of the "Hells Highway" game.

Unfortunately, before the evening session began I started feeling rather ill.  I guess the 13 hour drive combined with running four back to back games, caught up to me; as I'm not the youngster I once was. Anyhow, I had to cancel my Saturday night game, because I was just not up to running it, and spent the rest of the night in bed.  My sincere apologies to anyone who I disappointed by not being able to GM the last session.
     All in all the HAWKs had a blast at Nashcon. The Organizers did a great job, and we were made to feel right at home by everyone.  We look forward to returning in a couple years to run another slate of games at Nashcon!