All dressed up with no one to show

As noted previously, my time at GaMExpo was somewhat disappointing. I hauled my game mat, terrain, and miniatures down to San Antonio for what I thought would be two sessions of Ogre using my Monopolis setup. Instead of scheduled participation games, the miniatures tables seemed more like ongoing attractions for congoers to walk by and look at. Unfortunately, since they put us all upstairs away from the main rooms of the convention, foot traffic remained light for the Saturday I was there. I had one player show up for my first scheduled game at 10 a.m. Luckily, my gaming buddy Joe, who was scheduled to run a World War II game, offered to play as well.  

The attendee remembered Ogre from its 1970s origins, but hadn't played the decade. Since we just had the one new player, I gave him a Mark V with one secret objective, and the general orders to destroy CPs and town hexes. My friend, who's played in several Monopolis games, took the defense.

The attacking Ogre quickly moved up and took out a few defending armor units, then loosed one of its missiles to attack a town hex across the river that contained the Ghódurek Lítu Jail--the random objective the Ogre had drawn. After that, the cybertank forded the waterway and rumbled through the city, overrunning infantry and GEVs and shooting at heavy tanks as well before slaughtering one of the mobile command posts that were secondary targets. By this time, the defenders had stripped the Ogre of all its weapons except a few AP guns, so the cybertank made its way out of town as the Monopolis forces ineffectually tried to slow the big beast down. No such luck, and with the Ogre taking out its objective and a mobile CP, it secured a decisive victory for the aggressors.

Despite just the two players, I enjoyed refereeing this game, and they both enjoyed playing. I was disappointed, however, that no one else expressed interest in playing the rest of the day. And I did have to spend the whole day there, because there was no entry fee discount for running a single game--you had to volunteer for 10 hours (two games, for me) in order to get in for free. I wouldn't have minded volunteering for a half-day (a single game) if I got a discounted ticket, but for this con it was all or nothing. I doubt I will go back to this convention.