{"id":2405,"date":"2014-01-01T13:55:15","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T13:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2014-01-01T13:55:49","modified_gmt":"2014-01-01T13:55:49","slug":"2013-hawks-new-years-eve-gaming-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=2405","title":{"rendered":"2013 HAWKs New Years Eve Gaming Party"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Early<\/a>
Early stages of "Montmirail"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For five years now we’ve been hosting a New Years Eve gaming event. \u00a0As we’ve moved several times, this is the third venue. \u00a0This year’s event featured two full, four-hour convention games. \u00a0People began arriving about 1430, we had a break for dinner, we toasted the new year, and finished the second game by about 0100.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The battle commences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\""Montmirail"<\/a>
"Montmirail" continues<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We started about 1530 with distortion of the Battle of Montmirail. \u00a0Montmirail is a Napoleonic battle from the upcoming 1814 campaign book, written primarily by Dave Wood. \u00a0In this case, as I am about to wade into the writing of the book for Bear Yourselves Valiantly: \u00a0Look, Sarge, No Charts: \u00a0Fantasy, Ancient, and Mediaeval, <\/em>I substituted fantasy figures for the Napoleonic figures. \u00a0It wasn’t a faithful substitution. \u00a0I have each player roughly 1000 points of figures, which was more figures than would be on the table for the historical scenario. \u00a0In addition, the 1000-point armies tend to be a mix of troop types rather than being the infantry or cavalry divisions of the historical fight. \u00a0It is supposed to be a 10 turn game. \u00a0We only completed 7 turns, but I think that in a convention, with a smaller number of troops, we could fit all 10 turns into a four-hour convention slot. \u00a0We have one of the HAWKs who seems to like the rules but who doesn’t like fantasy, so I asked Tank Nickle (one of the BYV co-authors) to bring his Romans and Carthaginians, who acted as opposing commands of humans on that wing of the table.<\/p>\n

\""Montmirail"<\/a>
"Montmirail" was a bloody affair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Victory conditions involved ownership of four towns. \u00a0The “French” (consisting of dwarves, elves, and Carthaginians) held one of the four towns but needed to capture one of the other three to win the game. \u00a0The “Allies” (humans and goblins) held the other three. \u00a0This required the French to be on the offensive. \u00a0In the end, the dwarves, elves, and Carthaginians had not captured a second town. \u00a0With another few turns two of the three might have been contested, but about 1930 we called the game an Allied victory, tore it down, and set up the next fight.<\/p>\n

\"Orc's<\/a>
Orc's Drift<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eric Schlegel then set up and ran a fantasy game using his modifications to GASLIGHT, which he calls Mage Light. \u00a0The scenario was the British colonial battle of Rorke’s Drift, but the forces were fantasy figures instead. \u00a0(This New Years Eve was certainly the night for fantasy transmogrifications of historical battles!) \u00a0We, the “bad guys,” with a host of goblins, koblods, gnolls, ghouls, skeletons, orcs, and other assorted units were defending our homeland against the evil rampage of the “good guys.”<\/p>\n

\"Orc's<\/a>
Orc's Drift as the battle unfolds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This too was a bloody affair. \u00a0A high point for me were when the hill giants defending the wall against the imperialist Ent, turned it into kindling. \u00a0The good guys had a cleric who kept resurrecting dead “good guys” and a wizard who kept putting up walls of fire, thorns, and other stuff to slow down our movement of troops within the walls of Orc’s Drift.<\/p>\n

\"Ent<\/a>
An ent and some hill giants battle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The battle was going hot and heavy at midnight, so we stopped for 45 seconds to acknowledge the drop of the big ball and toast the new year before continuing the game. \u00a0By about 0100 Eric called the game a “bad guy” victory; although, both sides were reduced to fewer than a dozen or so figures.<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/a>
... It was a long day and night of gaming.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fighting two, full-length battles worked well. \u00a0In past years we’ve run two somewhat shorter events and then had to start a third game around 2230 or 2300. \u00a0The HAWKs are no spring chickens, so STARTING a game that late has been somewhat difficult. \u00a0We’ve done things like Munchkin or Red Dragon Inn, but even then, it’s hard to start that third game. \u00a0I liked what we did this year better; although, it’s good to have those other games in reserve in case a game plays poorly, and we end it early.<\/p>\n

We were missing a couple of “usual suspects.” \u00a0The Dean’s were unavailable; the Palmers were indisposed; and the Woods were unable to attend. \u00a0On top of that, the Priebe’s were busy getting married. \u00a0Still we had 12 players for the first game. \u00a0Even missing these folks, we had an excellent time. \u00a0It was a nice way to ring in the new year.<\/p>\n