Fun Time at Fuson-Con I

Last Saturday a couple of us drove up to Sam Fuson's Warhorse Farm, near Gettysburg, PA, to take part in a game day we christened, "Fuson-Con".  Sam invited some of the folks from where he works, and some friends, all of whom had little to no experience with miniature wargames, and Buck Surdu and I provided the games.
   We started the day with a "Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII" game that I ran as a playtest for Historicon. The scenario was set in Russia 1941, during Barbarossa, and featured a German force consisting of two infantry battalions, an armored battalion, and a recon battalion, attacking a small Russian town located across a river.  The German infantry has to use rafts to cross the river, as the armor is using the only bridge to cross, and the recon is using the only ford.  Meanwhile, the Russians start with only one infantry battalion on the table, with armor and infantry reinforcements trickling in each turn.
    The game was closely fought throughout, and we had to call it due to time constraints just as the Germans were attacking the outskirts of the town.  It was deemed a narrow Russian victory, though with another half hour of play, it could have gone either way.

Some of the German commanders move their forces, as Buck (in red shirt, who assisted me with the GM-ing) looks on. The Russian town is in the foreground, and the Germans are attacking from the far table edge.

Ed (commanding a Russian infantry battalion) and Greg (commanding a German one) face off south east of the town.

Near the end of the game. The German panzers attack the Russian armor defending the town.

After the WWII game, Buck set up a "To Be Continued...by GASLIGHT" game.  This scenario was episode 4 in a continuing story arc Buck is doing featuring the pulp hero, Duke Morrison.  In the last 'episode' the evil Venusians and their hired human thugs,  kidnapped a scientist's daughter and stolen the machinery from his lab, and in this 'episode' they have taken the girl and scientific equipment to the middle east, where Duke Morrison and his fiends have tracked them down and are now trying to rescue the girl and get the scientific equipment back or destroy it.

The small middle eastern town where the Venusians are located.

After entering the town, Duke Morrison happens upon the Venusian queen, and fights her hand to hand.

Some of the Venusian's thug allies crash a fuel truck into a building in an attempt to 'discourage' some of the local Turkish authorities who have happened by.

In the end, Crash Corrigan and his rocket men were able to destroy the scientific equipment, but the scientist's daughter remained hidden.  And worst of all, our hero, Duke Morrison, had fallen captive to the Venusians.  Who knows what evil plans they have in store for him!  To be continued....:-)
    After the Pulp GASLIGHT game, Buck set up his pirate tavern as a finale for the day, using his "Blood & Swash" rules.  Mayhem ensued as opposing bands of pirates fought to capture and remove the tavern's treasure chest, and the tavern keeper's daughter.  In the end, Greg was able to get the treasure chest out of the tavern, but in an unfortunate mishap, Sam accidentally shot the tavern keeper's daughter as I was trying to carry her from the tavern.  Every one had a good time with this free-for-all game.

A view of the table.

The scene inside the Ruptured Swordfish tavern.

A battle over the treasure chest developed near the doorway.

The event was a huge success, and everyone said they were looking forward to when we could get together and do it again.  May thanks to Sam for hosting this fun day.

Recent Uncharted Seas Game

I recently hosted a games day for our club, at which I ran an Uncharted Seas scenario. The scenario involved an Orc raid on a Dwarven mining/port facility. For this scenario I constructed out of pink and blue foam scraps three key terrain features: the base of the harbor, where the mines and port were located, and two land arms reaching out into the harbor. I also made two small islands to place in the mouth of the harbor. On the ends of each of the arms, and on each island I put a turret.

The turrets were constructed out of travel-sized dental floss containers with round plastic coffee stirrer guns, and a washer and plastic base for the top. On the top of the plastic base, I glued the back for a pierced earring. This has a small hole in it in which I plan to eventually insert a flagpole and flag.

I also constructed three dwarf ore barges. I traced the hull outline of a standard dwarf cruiser onto a sheet of balsa to form the basic shape. Then used balsa strips to form the edges of the hold. I build up a small mound with pink foam scraps in the hold area, and then glued ballast over it. Finally, I painted them

I did not get to complete the main harbor base in time for the game. Eventually, I hope to add more detailed mining structures and other buildings.
The game was a lot of fun, but turned out to be a bit lopsided in favor of the Orcs. One of the main problems was that I gave the turrets stats that were too weak, and the Orc Ships were able to quickly eliminate most of them at long range; before the Dwarves ever had a chance to fire them.
I plan to revisit this scenario, as the players really enjoyed it and I think it has great potential. I will keep you posted as it evolves.