A different kind of convention (for me anyway)

Earlier this month, my wife and I went to our first ever science fiction convention: ArmadilloCon here in the Austin area. 

My wife did confess that at first she thought I had talked her into attending a game convention, and wasn't sure about going. However, once we got there and she realized that it was more of a book fans' event than a comicon or wargames show, she got into it.

While the con did have open gaming (which we did not take advantage of)--and a dealer room and an art room, both of which sucked away some of our money--the main attraction was all the authors who participated in readings, discussion, panels and book signings.

My favorite panel was the first one we attended, "Spotlight on Southwest-Themed Sci Fi and Fantasy," which had four Texas authors talking about (mainly) the Lone Star State and its influence on speculative fiction. 

I enjoyed that all the panel members were from or currently living in parts of the state where I had resided at one time or another. I also got a kick out of the fact that two of them were originally from my old stomping ground in West Texas, and their discussions about that region took me back there. They also name-checked several Texas writers, including Robert E. Howard and Elizabeth Moon.

Other panels were just as interesting (like the one on "What have Texas Infrastructure Failures Taught Us About the Coming Apocalypse?") and had may authors from around Austin as well as other parts of the state. We also heard from local horror author Gabino Iglesias, and went home with a couple of his books as well as his autograph.

The highlight for us was special guest Cory Doctorow reading an exceprt from one of his upcoming books, The Lost Cause. His writing captivated my spouse and I, and his take on the future, which can be described as "hopepunk" is one I enjoy.

So that was our first science fiction convention. I think we'll be going again next year.

MillenniumCon wrapup (and loot!)

The convention was four days this year (Thursday-Sunday), but I ended up sleeping in and not making the final day of MillCon. I'm sorry I missed out on some pickup games of Melee/Wizard and the other Sunday morning events, including the flea market. 

But that doesn't mean I left the con empty-handed--while browsing the dealers room, I scored this massive collection of 6mm MAATAC* vehicles for the eponymous "intergalactic wargame of great armored fighting machines" from Superior Models.

There are well over a hundred castings in this lot, which I got for a very generous price from the vendor, a local gamer and publisher of Miniature Review blog. As a nice bonus, he threw in some Starfleet Wars minis (at upper right). These MAATAC units cover four of the Five Powers, so I will still need to purchase a few Avarians to round out my collection of Aquarians, Carnivorans, Entomalians, and Terrans.

But first, I get to paint some of these! A nice find at a great gaming convention.

*Multifunctional Armed & Armored Tactical Attack Computer

MillenniumCon Day 3 (p.m.)

Saturday afternoon I played a Starfighter! space combat game, based on the Fistful of Lead game engine.

The game master had 3D-printed all the ships, which were based on some computer game I can't remember. It was the humans against the Vaanduls, if that helps. Anyway, I played the capital ship and the space station, which eventually got blow up. But I had fun doing some space combat again.

Speaking of space, the next table over had some kind of War of the Worlds battle in 28mm. It looked pretty cool, and was voted one of the outstanding games of the convention.

There was also a Bolt Action tournament going on that afternoon. Not my jam, but there were plenty of players on a variety of terrain settings.

That was it for my evening, other than dinner with a gaming buddy I hadn't seen in two years. I did get a couple of pics of this massive long table for a Civil War battle.

This game looked like another 28mm event. I didn't stick around to watch people play, because again, tired.

That was it for the third day of the convention.

MillenniumCon day 3 (a.m.)

The third day of the convention, I joined my brother in a huge American Civil War game using the Black Powder rules and the Warlord epic scale minis.

Although we had historical forces (from the battle of Shiloh, I think), the scenario itself was ahistorical, with the Rebels trying to advance on the Union camps, and the North trying to hold off the Southerners long enough for reinforcements to arrive. I was the Yankees on the far left, including that lone regiment in the cornfield.

My goal as the Union commander was to try to delay long enough for other Northern forces to get to the battle. Somehow, that single regiment held off advancing brigades, and I deployed my other forces in line to stop the advancing Rebs.

There was a lot of shooting, both artillery and musket fire, with both sides inflicting casualties. Many units became shaken, meaning they couldn't do much, and some units ended up whipped, but remained on the battlefield.

We even got a few infantry charges in (on both sides), but I didn't make a single command roll to get my cavalry moving the entire battle.

When time was up, the Union had won by holding off the Confederates, and I won a tape measure for my regiment's brave stand against the Confederate onslaught. It was a fun time.

Monopolis second session (MillCon Day 2)

My second Monopolis game had a little poorer turnout, because I didn't decide to do it until well after electronic registration closed. I figured there was enough demand for another session, and running them back-to-back meant just setting up once and breaking down once. I decided to leave in the craters from the previous game, building a new road and replacing some of the destroyed town hexes with parkland.

Just five players for the evening game, and since the last one was late because of car trouble, I got to participate as one of the defenders for long enough to launch a nuke on some unsuspecting GEVs. 

The final player showed up soon after that, and I was back to refereeing the game. Once again, lots of Ogre-on-Ogre action, with the small guys as kind of an afterthought.

That Doppelsoldner is a beast, with its two mains, eight secondaries, and three missile racks. Because of all the cybertanks running around in this scenario, I warned the players at the start of the game that any time one side ended their turn with more than a single Ogre in a hex, their opponent could call in an off-board cruise missile.

The attackers didn't care, as they needed to cross a ford west of the city guarded by the green Mark V. Lucky for them, they shot down the incoming cruise missile, and it didn't detonate. They also made mincemeat out of the defending cybertank, which at least allowed me to use my Ogre hulk.

They had also destroyed the defending laser implacements, and managed to launch a second cruise missile, which they detonated above the river, rubblizing most of downtown.

The game was pretty much over at this point, but the attackers wanted to get off their second nuke, which levelled the eastern suburbs for a near total destruction of Monopolis. This game was obviously a victory for the attackers, pyrrhic as it may have been. 

So I handed out more prize support, packed up with the help of my brother, and went home late Friday night. It was a long day, and hosting back-to-back games wore me out, but I'm glad I did the second event.

Monopolis first session (MillCon Day 2)

The second day of MillenniumCon, I ran two games (afternoon and evening) of Monopolis, my Ogre scenario using the boardgame rules, miniatures, and 3D terrain on a huge hex map. We got there at 9 a.m., not realizing that the game my brother wanted to play had started at 8. So we wandered around the dealer room (where I scored big; more on that in a later post) and looked at other games that morning, grabbed an early lunch, and started setting up before the 1:30 events started.

The first game, all eight slots had been claimed in online preregistration, but after cancellations and substitutes, we ended up with seven players--and that was fine. This time around, I decided to get all my cybertanks on the board, with around eight for the attackers and five for the defenders, plus conventional armor. I also included the mobile laser, the ekranoplan, and other nonstandard units.

The attackers' Doppelsoldner and defenders' Ogre Mark VI went after each other in a clash of titans in the plains to the east of the city, and the ekranoplan didn't get its troops very far. There was plenty of back-and-forth at the other end of the battlefield as well, including some aquatic action between GEVs and armored boats.

Then the cruise missiles started flying. I'd given the defenders plenty of lasers (and the attackers their own portable energy weapon) for this reason, but eventually one got through, detonating above the main highway into the city, and levelling the terrain for kilometers around. 

I was prepared for this, as rereading the previous Monopolis batrep had reminded me to place the rubble markers first when setting up, then put town and forest on top, to make applying the effects of the nuke quicker and easier and not break the flow of the game. And the players on both sides enjoyed seening the fruits of this nuclear destruction.

This came in handy when the second cruise missile detonated just up the road, taking out the bridge and some of downtown Monopolis across the river--along with some unfortunate nearby conventional units.

By then, it was just about time to end the game. While the attackers made some incursions into the city, the defenders still held Monopolis. It was a good time, and thanks to Steve Jackson Games, I even had some prize support to hand out when we were done.

Between events, I had a chance to wander around some more. Here's a shot of the Circus Maximus setup--a 28mm scale adoption of that classic boardgame. This event is a fan favorite and always fills up within minutes of preregistration starting.

So it was a good afternoon on day two, with my evening Monopolis game still to come. Stay tuned!

MillenniumCon 2021 (day 1)

MillenniumCon 2021 was last weekend, and I had a blast. I saw people I haven't seen in two years and got in plenty of gaming, including two sessions of my Monopolis setup. 

The convention started on a Thursday, with evening games. Since it was just down the road, I showed up after lunch on Thursday to help set up tables. Then I went home and waited for my brother to drive in, and after dinner we went back to the venue to push minis and roll dice.

I took part in a Spanish Civil War game, using modified Memoir '44 rules. The scenario was two players as the Nationalists vs. three of us as the Republican forces, including Anarchist and Communist forces. Our goal was to prevent the Fascists from getting all the way down the table to Madrid.

I took the Commies, and tried to delay the Nationalists as much as possible by ordering my forces to hold villages to the last man. It kind of worked, as when time ran out, our opponents had not reached more than halfway to their objective. 

Meanwhile, my brother took to the arena in Ludus Gladitorius, where he ended up getting killed off in the mass combat. 

All in all, a fun start to the weekend. Anyone else reading this who attended MillCon?

The return of Monopolis

After a year's (enforced) hiatus, I will be bringing my Monopolis setup back to MillenniumCon this year. Monopolis, of course, is my big Ogre/GEV minis setup. As the event description says:

The year after the Great Plague, the peaceful City of Monopolis rises above the rubble of the Last War, a gleaming center of commerce and industry. But no peace lasts forever. Now invaders march to conquer the city while outnumbered defenders scramble to protect their home. This is a custom scenario for Ogre/GEV, using the official Ogre miniatures (and a few original units) on a large hex mat with 3-D terrain. With room for up to 8 players, you and your friends can aid in the defense of the besieged city--or help the invaders conquer it. Fight in the Siege of Monopolis!

As the game convention has expanded to start on Thursday, I chose the Friday afternoon slot for my game. Looking forward to attending this game convention again, and I hope to see some of you there!

Pics from MillCon day two

The first full day of this year's MillenniumCon had plenty of eye candy. There was the World War II game which spanned several tables (above) and this Wings of War setup with bombers and escorts (below):

There was a nice Stalingrad setup for Bolt Action:

And a western town for Fistful of Lead:

As well as this sci-fi terrain for Gates of Antares:

A great freighter centerpiece for modern-day Spectre Operations:

And some 3-D terrain for good old Melee:

I also ran my two games; more about that later.

MillCon loot

I was parsimonious at the game convention this year, buying just two items for myself: This scatter terrain from one of the vendors, Black Site Studios, and a Marvel Heroscape set at the flea market.

(Apologies for the upside-downiness, but I don't know how to fix that.) Anyone else make out with some good loot from a recent game convention? Did you spend a lot or a little?

First day of MillCon

MillenniumCon began on a Thursday this year, with all the games immediately getting filled before I could register. I went anyway, just to hang out and see some gaming buddies.

This Napoleonics game was being set up, but it's not scheduled until tomorrow. These miniatures are some original lead minifigs.

There was also a gladiator game being run. I didn't know that they fought giraffes in the coliseum. Looking forward to playing some minis tomorrow.