{"id":2173,"date":"2013-09-15T08:55:59","date_gmt":"2013-09-15T08:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=2173"},"modified":"2013-09-15T11:49:45","modified_gmt":"2013-09-15T11:49:45","slug":"barrage-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=2173","title":{"rendered":"Barrage 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The HAWKs team that put on Barrage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday the Harford Area Weekly Kreigspeilers (HAWKS) ran our annual gaming day, Barrage, in the Havre de Grace community center. \u00a0Above is a picture of the team that put together this very successful gaming event. \u00a0At it’s peak we had about 130 participants, and we presented 42 miniatures events along with a Flames of War tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Geoff<\/a>
Geoff making us breakfast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We all converged on the community center Friday evening to set up tables and chairs. \u00a0After we were all set up, Chris ran an “all comers” fantasy game, using Bear Yourselves Valiantly<\/em>. \u00a0At the same time, Russ from On Military Matters ran several six- to eight-player X Wing Fighter<\/em> games. \u00a0The community center is a 60-90 minute drive for me. \u00a0We wrapped up around 2200 and needed to converge again by 0800 Saturday morning. \u00a0As I didn’t relish the long drives or short night, so I had determined in advance that I would camp out Friday night in the community center, which has both a full kitchen and a shower. \u00a0Geoff elected to remain overnight as well. \u00a0After all the HAWKs had departed we watched an episode of Man from UNCLE<\/em> on my Mac and a few other short videos before going to sleep. \u00a0The next morning he cooked sausage and eggs from his chickens for breakfast. \u00a0By the time the HAWKS began to arrive again, we were reasonably well rested, clean, and fed.<\/p>\n

\"Don<\/a>
Don and Geoff at the registration desk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Candy<\/a>
Candy manning the food booth. She was ably assisted throughout the day by Jennifer and Brenda. (In zoology female HAWKs are called hens, but I did't think we'd get away with that at Barrage!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don and Geoff manned the registration desk in the morning. \u00a0Don manned the desk most of the day. \u00a0Dealers and game masters began arriving at 0800, with gamers arriving a little before 0900. \u00a0 \u00a0HAWKS ladies ran the food concession throughout the day, offering hot dogs, snacks, drinks, and (later) pizza. \u00a0Food was inexpensively priced and allowed folks to stay and game rather than wander around town looking for food.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A difficult purchase chose at one of our dealers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joe<\/a>
Joe DiCamillo participating in the Flames of War tournament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had several dealers. \u00a0Steve, from Age of Glory, has been supporting Barrage for 13 years. \u00a0For the past two years, Russ, from On Military Matters, has been coming to Barrage. \u00a0In addition we had several other folks selling books, games, and figures. \u00a0The dealers told me that they did well. \u00a0We even had a couple of folks come to Barrage just to spend money with our vendors. \u00a0Barrage is an “old school” convention with the dealers arranged around the outside of the gaming area. \u00a0This allows players to slip over and sample their wares between turns and in many cases allowed vendors to participate in a game or two while still watching their tables. \u00a0Russ had an X Wing Fighter<\/em> game going most of the day, and Steve got to participate in a Force on Force<\/em> modern Afghanistan scenario. \u00a0Bob from the I-95 gamers hosted the second annual Barrage Flames of War<\/em> tournament. \u00a0By all accounts the tournament was very successful, despite another Flames of War<\/em> tournament being scheduled on top of ours elsewhere in Pennsylvania, which sucked away at least five participants.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A battle during the Spanish Civil War, using Bolt Action<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Above and below are samples of some of the excellent games we had on offer at Barrage.<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/a>
Getting started playing "The Bridge"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The game pictures above used some ‘beer and pretzels” rules from Bill Molyneau. \u00a0This was the first tabletop gaming experience for the three young men in the center of the picture. \u00a0They got to play in three games (Dr. Who by GASLIGHT, Aerodrome, and this ACW battle), and they expressed interest in coming to a HAWKs club meeting.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>
Another view of the Flame's of War tournament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bill<\/a>
Bill and William running a very attractive War of 1812 game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill and William ran this very interesting War of 1812 game of a battle in which Bill had two ancestors. \u00a0He used John Bull and Patriots<\/em> for the game.<\/p>\n

\"Sean's<\/a>
Sean Barnett's Fireball Forward game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once again, Mark and Sean, the authors of Fireball Forward<\/em>, supported Barrage. \u00a0The game looked great, and the players were engaged the whole time.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/a>
Brian Cantwell's ancient naval game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brian Cantwell ran this beautiful ancient naval game. \u00a0The ships are paper models with 15mm figures deployed on them. \u00a0I think Brian had 10 players, and the game seemed to go very well.<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/a>
Bob and Cleo in a very interesting 6mm modern game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Steve's<\/a>
Steve's attractive Shako II game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A young gamer in Geoff's Lego pirate game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to several kid-friendly game, the HAWKs normally dedicate one table to games designed for kids. \u00a0We didn’t have very many kids this year compared to other years, but here is one youngster who enjoyed Geoff’s Lego pirate game with his aunt.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a>
Dave Wood's Fate of Battle game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A really nice looking ACW game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Squire<\/a>
Squire Palmer running is Bear Yourselves Valiantly game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think this game was a play test for Fall In. \u00a0Chris said the game was “intense” and went down to the wire. \u00a0I never did find out who won, but the players all had a great time and left the game looking like they had survived a real battle — in a good way!<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Two guys for whom Barrage was their first gaming event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Above is a small piece of a Dr. Who<\/em> game using GASLIGHT<\/em>, featuring an elaborate tunnel system and lots of chaotic action. \u00a0This table was a source of lots of whooping and hollering during the morning.<\/p>\n

\"Dystopian<\/a>
Dystopian Wars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ed<\/a>
Ed Watts' pirate game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dr.<\/a>
Dr. Who, Daleks, and a tremendous tunnel system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nazis<\/a>
Nazis using a time machine to hunt dinosaurs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the second year in a row, Bendan Watts ran his Eat Hitler game, in which Nazis in their time machine hunt for dinosaurs to help with their war effort. \u00a0In this case, all the Nazis became dino-snacks.<\/p>\n

\"Duncan's<\/a>
Duncan's award-winning game of Crysler's Farm, during the War of 1812, using Wellington Rules<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last couple of years we had a monotonically increasing number of gamers and games. \u00a0While the trend continued, the increase this year was very modest, which was a bit disappointing. \u00a0 Attendance was impacted by a huge accident on I-95 that affected the Philadelphia and New Jersey gamers. \u00a0It was also affected by a competing Flames of War<\/em> tournament that siphoned off 5 to 8 of the players we expected. \u00a0Despite the lower than expected attendance, all but three of our scheduled games were run (as a policy we try to push folks into the guest game master gamers, so the three games that didn’t run would have been put on by HAWKs), the dealers did well, and all the participants had a great time.<\/p>\n

If you didn’t make it this year, and you live between DC, Frederick, and Philly, you really need to make Barrage 2014 part of your plans next September.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n