{"id":383,"date":"2011-03-15T14:20:16","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T14:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=383"},"modified":"2011-03-15T14:20:16","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T14:20:16","slug":"cold-wars-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=383","title":{"rendered":"Cold Wars 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, Cold Wars is over for this year. \u00a0I had a really good time. \u00a0I ran several games, and they all went well. \u00a0I had a chance to play in a FIW game with my kids. \u00a0I even found most of the stuff off my shopping list and managed to avoid too many impulse buys.<\/p>\n

We drove up Thursday night and played Magblast (cards) and Betrayal at the House on the Hill (board game) with some buddies. \u00a0Friday I ran three games. \u00a0The first was a Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII France 1940 game involving a French force trying to keep a road open against German opposition to allow the rest of the French to pass.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The French commanders study the battlefield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eric and Andrew, long-time LSNC players were on the French side. \u00a0Andrew has been playing LSNC since before the rules were published. \u00a0He is growing up, and apparently his “kid dice luck” has deserted him. \u00a0When the smoke cleared, none of his French tanks remained on the table.<\/p>\n

\"BAPS<\/a>
BAPS game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Friday afternoon I ran a BAPS game as part of Don’s article project. \u00a0He had the same scenario run three times, once with Battleground, once with BAPS, and once with Disposable Heroes. \u00a0He intends to write an article comparing the three games. \u00a0From what I could tell, the outcomes were pretty similar, ending in a grenade throwing contest for control of the house in the center of the board.<\/p>\n

Friday night I ran the French and Indians come to Schlegel’s Ferry. \u00a0Schlegel’s Ferry is a fictitious town on the upper Chesapeake that starts with two groups of Indians fighting for control of the area. \u00a0The area grows through a series of scenarios: \u00a0Indians vs. Indians, Indians vs. Dutch settlers, French and Indian Wars, War of 1812, American Revolution, American Civil War, World War I spies, 1920’s gangsters, 1950’s alien invasion, and post apocalypse. \u00a0I ran the FIW version, with the French squeaking out a minor victory by getting a few soldiers into the stockade.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A view of the Lvov table during setup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday morning Chris and I ran our 16 player LSNC game of the battle of Lvov in Poland. \u00a0I’ve described the scenario in a previous post. \u00a0This was the fifth time we’ve run it. \u00a0We didn’t get quite enough players to run the full game, so we cut off the Polish attack portion and just played the German and Russian attacks on Zboiska. \u00a0This was the first time the Germans or Russians have gotten to the town with more than a handful of platoons.<\/p>\n

\"Germans<\/a>
Germans executing the "Von Fuson" plan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam Fuson wanted to play Germans, since he had played the other forces in previous iterations of the scenario and because he “had an idea” of how he wanted to attack. \u00a0We dubbed his idea the “von Fuson” plan. \u00a0The Germans punched through the Polish cavalry, avoiding Chris’ infantry on the Polish right due to their anti-tank guns. \u00a0Eventually, the Polish cavalry was forced back into Zboiska and constituted most of the defenders. \u00a0Chris’ infantry was beaten back by Eric’s German infantry and eventually retreated back toward the town as well. \u00a0On the Russian side, Kurt pummeled poor Andrew (again having lost his kid luck) while JJ pushed through the Polish defenders at the creek.<\/p>\n

\"Fighting<\/a>
Fighting around Lvov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Germans reached the town first, but the staunch Polish defenders pushed them back.\u00a0 By the end of the game, botht he Germans and Russians were fighting for the town.\u00a0 The Germans and Russians were not allowed to fight each other, so they used clever tactics like moving their forces between their “allies” and the town to slow them down.\u00a0 In the end, the Russians had about twice as many bases in the town as the Germans, so we called it a Russian victory.<\/p>\n

Saturday afternoon I played a Brother Against Brother French and Indian War game with my kids.\u00a0 Tommy and Sammy were on the French side.\u00a0 I had the Indians on the British side.\u00a0 Brother Against Brother is a very bloody system.\u00a0 On turn one, I moved my Indians to the edge of the woods in open order.\u00a0 Then my daughter opened fire with her Courier du Bois from behind a stone wall and wiped out an entire unit.\u00a0 Taking advantage of the long reload time for rifles, I then sent my second unit across the field to work my way around her flank, but my movement rolls stunk and she got another opportunity to shoot at me.\u00a0 By the end of the fourth run, I only had 2 Indian figures left.\u00a0 Despite my miserable showing, we had a good time playing a game together.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The town of Granville before the action began<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday night I ran my GASLIGHT gangster game.\u00a0 The scenario, a reprise of the one I ran for the HAWKs on New Year’s Eve, featured two gangs and police.\u00a0 One gang had captured a senator’s daughter and had also hijacked a shipment from the other gang.\u00a0 The second gang then came to town to get their money back and also to rescue the girl to ingratiate themselves with the local police.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Granville<\/a>
Granville in the heat of the action<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost immediately, despite my warnings, the gangsters began firing tommy guns.\u00a0 This, of course, demanded a response from the police who came out with BARs and shotguns.\u00a0 Lots of 20’s were rolled, blowing up two car engines and jamming several weapons.\u00a0 In the chaos, the police found the hostage and got her off the table.\u00a0 Another group of police found the vault with the stolen loot and managed to get away with it as well.\u00a0 Atypically, the police won!<\/p>\n

\"Frogs<\/a>
Frogs battle in the swamp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My last game of the convention was co-run with Chris Palmer on Sunday morning.\u00a0 It involved the South American frogs fighting for independence from their Spanish overlords.\u00a0 With the time change, our 0900 Sunday morning game was largely empty, so a group of teenagers from Howard County, MD, filled it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Spanish frog "self propelled" gun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The game featured a number of scratch-built tank vehicles.\u00a0 This scene shows a lone South American frog leader (who was unattached because the rest of his unit had been wiped out) preparing to take on the Spanish artillery crew single-handedly.\u00a0 Surprisingly, the cannon crew abandoned their gun and charged the lone leader.\u00a0 They were joined by the commander of the self propelled gun who chose to dismount and charge rather than reload his cannon.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The king approaches!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this picture note Chris’ war snail has been shot.\u00a0 The Spanish frogs scored a catastrophic hit, which killed the snail, but the crew survived and later charged the Spanish frog king.\u00a0 They were unsuccessful.\u00a0 Despite the rout of the Spanish king’s guard, the Spanish king defeated the South American guard, the snail crew, and a unit of South American frog spearmen.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A view from within the fort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interestingly, the South American players decided to leave their fort and attack the Spanish frogs in open ground.\u00a0 (In this picture you can see the Eureka war turtle in the background.)\u00a0 At the end of the game, all the South American vehicles were destroyed, and the Spanish still had three.\u00a0 Both armies were almost devoid of infantry.\u00a0 We called it a minor Spanish victory.<\/p>\n

I picked up a few items in my one hour of shopping that I needed for Historicon.\u00a0 We’re still on track to release The GASLIGHT Compendium at Historicon, so watch for lots of GASLIGHT games there.\u00a0 I’ll even be running at least two that are “straight historical” games; although, the scenarios will be ahistorical.<\/p>\n