Recon 2015 - Some Things Never Change

This weekend was the Recon game convention here in Orlando. I was scheduled for the entire weekend, whereas Jeremy got a day ticket for Friday since he was leaving (left) for Peru today. We hadn't attended Recon or Hurricon in about seven years, so we were interested to see if anything had changed. Overall, it seemed smaller than we remembered, but that could just be our imagination. I had pr-registered up a Sword in Africa game at 2pm. Jeremy signed up for the battle of Ligny using Commit the Garde! rules taking place at the same time.

The Sword in Africa (aka "Bored in Africa")
The Sword and the Flame happens to be one of the few miniature game rules that I actually enjoy playing, but it has not hit my table in years. As a result, I was looking forward to playing the African variant. I even wished I could have brought along some of my explorers, who have been cooped up in their boxes far too long!

I'm Waiting...I'm Waiting...I'm Waiting...
Below are some photos of the large table, along with some closer detail shots. I got a lot of inspiration from that table, which has gotten my Colonial itch going. Unfortunately, I never really got to play the game! Even though I was one of the first people at the table, I basically became the 13th wheel among the typical gathering of buddies that this conventions seem to be. It's always nice to be ignored by the game runner for 15 minutes, while I just sat there staring at the table. Sigh.

You Can't See Me!
Then we "got our assignments" after the crew discussed what they were doing. I had no idea what I was to do other than play two native units "in hiding". This meant I sat there for multiple turns waiting to "surprise" the explorers, who pretty much knew I was sitting there waiting to surprise them. At least I got to sit for a while. Sigh.

Enough is Enough
Anyway, I got tired of doing nothing at all and bailed from the "game," which as I mentioned was meant more for all the buddies to get together and play. Some things never change.

All Boring on the Ligny Front
I popped over to my son's Ligny game. He had been given the "southern' French flank, where literally nothing had been happening turn after turn. His opponent, a gentlemen my age along with his teenage son, commanded the "southern" Prussian flank, where likewise nothing had been happening. (In real life,the soldiers would have been loving it!)

I "took over" for his son's command, while his son went swimming. Basically, I sat down and opened my tablet to play several games of "Hey! That's My Fish!", which was far more fun than anything else going on. The fellow decided to open his laptop and get some work done, while the guys playing the center and northern flank got their battle on, pretty much oblivious to us. My total lack of knowing the rules appeared not to be a hindrance at all! Sigh.

We Are Outta Here!
That's when we called it quits, having had enough. My arthritis was flaring big time, causing me to take one step a second and lots of pain. I was not going to hang around for the flea market. I was really excited to play the Black Cross / Blue Sky game that evening, which would have been fun. But I never would have made it. Instead, I fought 5 o'clock rush-hour traffic home. I didn't bother going Saturday, choosing to sleep most of the day instead.

Some More Photos From the Con
Here are some more photos from the con.

Well, I officially am done with game conventions. Over the years, I have given them my best shot, and they just do not appear to be for me. While I might have some fun here and there, such as playing Black Cross last summer, game cons down here feel more like an excuse for a bunch of buddies to get together and play games with their buddies.

HMGS-South - You All Need Some Serious Therapy!
From what I read in the Rebel Yell, the HMGS-South cons will be experiencing a big cost increase in the coming years. They want people to get the word out about the cons in order to increase attendance. Personally, the regulars going to the con and running the con need to change their perception of why they are holding the con. My son is an MBA student at Rollins and has created a number of successful growth and marketing plans for small businesses here in Central Florida as part of his studies.His main specialty is high-end fund raising events. He just shakes his head. Everything an organization can do wrong, he feels, HMGS-South is doing wrong, and could care less.

We really do not care anymore. Both of us are done with the gaming scene here in Central Florida, not that we were ever really a part of it. I'm committing myself to solo gaming, or gaming with my son, or maybe a non-gaming fellow or two from church. And that is it.

Spy-Fi to Hornblower: A Great Read and a Great Watch

Yes, I am still here! It always seems as if I do more hobby work once college starts in September than I do all summer. I'm not sure why, but I know it's true! For example, I've begun working on my 6mm and 15mm Quar that I got months ago. These are splendid figures with very little flash or mould lines. With the weather changing here in FL, I should be able to prime them soon.

Keeping with my recent spy-fi theme, I bought on the Amazon marketplace a fantastic 160-page book on spy-fi gadgets: The Incredible World Of Spy-Fi: Wild and Crazy Spy Gadgets, Props, and Artifacts from TV and the Movies by Danny Biederma, a consultant on 007 Bond films, and Robert Wallace, an ex-CIA technical director. I bought a used copy of the hardback version, which is the only way to go with this book, I feel, since I'll be referencing it often. I only paid several dollars after shipping. The book arrived last Thursday. Though the book was listed as "good," I would grade it excellent condition. My copy has several autographs. I'm not sure who they are from. Anyway, if you like Bond, Man From UNCLE, Wild Wild West, and more then you will love this book. BTW the author has trademarked the work "spy-fi," which I found interesting.

Friday, Amazon did one of their weird price-war things and dropped the price of the Horatio Hornblower Collector's Edition DVD set from $25 down to $9. The price lasted only a day. I had it my wish list and was checking it for price drops, which I tend to do often. (I also have camelcamelcamel price drop alerts set for some items.) So I grabbed this deal right away. Having Amazon Prime, as I do, made the deal even better since no shipping costs. My (young at the time) son and I loved A&E's Hornblower series when it first aired on cable TV and have not been able to watch it since. The series is chock-full of ideas for skirmish gaming.

Victory Point Game's Jena 20

Last night we began playing our first game of Jena 20 in Victory Point Game's Napoleonic 20 series of small, lighter wargames. Each game has about 20 counters. I bought four of them from a fellow on TMP, getting a fantastic deal. I then gave them to Jeremy for Christmas. He is a newbie when it comes to wargaming. With only several pages of rules, which are well-organized and clearly written for the most part, the game is a great introduction to the hobby.It plays smoothly and fast. We like the random event cards as well. If you want to check some good reviews of the game, see the Jena 20 section at Boardgame Geek.

The photo below is where we were at the end of the second turn. I'm playing Prussians, which always seem to be my go-to Napoleonic army. Jeremy is playing French. Right now, not much has happened. Jeremy decided to activate his Imperial Guard, moving them up to hold Jena. A bold move. Hey, why not commit the Guard right away? Of course, he took the Army Morale hit for doing so. But he felt he had enough morale he could burn the point. (He was right.)

Holding Jena with the Guard seemed like a good move, until a couple turns later when I surrounded the city with all my weakling Prussian units and a Reserve unit, and then took the city, pushing back the Guard. Ouch! Sadly, my focus on Jena has left me weaker to the North. We will finish the game later today, starting on the morning of Day 2, but now I wonder if I made a mistake. The French reinforcements are arriving. I will need a bit of luck and will have to recover some Army Morale to win. The player whose Army Morale reaches 0 loses.

Bottom line: If you have an interest in grand scale Napoleonic gaming but don't want to devote a lifetime to learning and playing a wargame, then Jena 20 fits the bill. Once you learn the rules for one Napoleonic 20 game, you learn the basics for all of them. If you're a hardcore wargamer, then it might be a bit too light for your tastes.

New Page: Paper Napoleonic Game Counters

This evening, I posted as new permanent Page to the blog: Paper Napoleonic Game Counters. At the new page, you can download all the images I created/modified back in 2012 to test out 28mm Napoleonic gaming, which you can read about if you click this link. The counters cover the common/popular sizes on infantry, such as 40mm x 40mm and 60mm x 40mm, along with cavalry, artillery, and officers. I made two different sets of counters, so you can create two armies. The officer counters are for the French and Russian. You can download and print them to begin gaming right away. You could even resize them for smaller scales, such as 15mm. Below are some photos of a 60mm x 40mm army in action. So check out the new page. I hope someone finds them useful.

The 28mm paper counters with 15mm Napoleon's Battles counters.