Historicon 2014 Report

Well I'm somewhat recovered from my two week trip back East which included going to Historicon 2014. The time change coming back really affected me, but with a couple nights good sleep, I think I have recovered. Last time at Historicon was two years ago. I think the quantity of good games and number of dealers was better then than this year but I still had fun. They have added curtain partitions in the game area which cut down the noise level and by re-designating some women's bathrooms as Men's  fixed the backup at the bathrooms they had two years ago. I managed to get in two games a day which made me feel I got my money's worth.

First game was a pick-up game of Tactica in which I played Huns vs Late Romans. I got my butt kicked big time. Wasn't even close. As at home we only play T2, I have a problem going back to the original Tactica rules. Also, I'm not good with cavalry armies. To win with the Huns you need to wear the Romans down with a lot of missile fire and not get into melee. You only have three melee units, the rest are all horse archers. That's not my style of play and to do it would have made for a very long game. I still had fun and learned I don't like playing Huns. Thanks to James Baker who put on the game.

Next was a civil war Skirmish Game where the Union was making a raid to blow up the Confederate ironclad Tennessee. I had command on the ironclad but it starts with all the gunners and crew on shore in the town. Confederates can't move until Union gets within twelve inches or starts shooting.

 

Above is  a view  of Militia unit in town supposedly sleeping until the alarm is raised. Ironclad gunners can be seen in middle left of picture. Union patrol starts from group of trees seen to left of ironclad.

 Another view of town and Ironclad Tennessee

 A view inside the Ironclad model all beautifully hand built by Game master Miles Reidy.

 I never got the gunners onto the boat as the Union boarding party moved too quick and overpowered the Confederate Militia Unit defending the town.

I was able to get the Ironclad Commander and the Marines inside the boat to keep the Union boarding party from getting inside to set their charges. Gamemaster decided to let the kid win so he changed the rules to finish the game and give the victory to the Union side.

Below is a couple of pic's of an 1812 6mm game of the attack on Fort McHenry . You can easily recognize Baltimore Harbor. Very nicely done.

 Following are some pictures of a Tactica game I played on Friday. Don Manser hosted four Tactica games at once. I was playing Republican Romans vs Later Macedonians. Figures are 25mm, very nicely painted by Don.

 This is just after Deployment, about end of Turn 2, I think. I tried to use the old "march to one flank" gambit to prevent the Macedonian cavalry from getting around my flank. Didn't work too well. Needed another turn before Deployment. I was more used to Ponts and Armenians Supplement armies which don't have to deploy until turn three.

 Macedonian Light Cavalry seen above was able to catch one of my cohorts with a Flank attack until I could rescue the unit with one of my Triari.

 On my left flank I was able to keep the Macedonian Cavalry engaged so they couldn't attack me infantry although I eventually lost all my cavalry units.

 Near end of the game, I was loosing cohorts left and right. I had made a bad Deployment of the Principes 2nd line and my opponent Richard was kicking my butt. I really thought that this gave was lost.

Final turn. I have to destroy 2 phalanxes to win. Macedonians have to rout eight cohorts.  Melee direction is right to left. I've finally managed to route one phalanx, but loose another cohort soon thereafter. Score was 7 to 1. In the center, Richard needs just three kills to make me check morale. He'd been hot dicing me the whole game while I was barely able to get one or two kills. He throws bad and gets no hits, but I score enough to make him check. He fails the morale roll. Romans win by a hair. A very close game indeed


Below a very cool looking All Quiet on the Martian Front by Alien Dungeons that was very well attended. They put this scenario on several times. You can check out their products here: http://aliendungeon.blogspot.com/

 They had a really massive layout. I don't normally like Fantasy type games, but I could go for this.

Couldn't resist taking this picture of some guy zonked out in one of the Ballroom game areas.

 Battle of Talavera, 1809 a Shako II game. I had the French Left Flank shown above.

 Game host Robert Lockley. He had his hands full with about 10 players in the game.

 At lower right side, the Brigade of two battalions from Polish 4th Regiment adavance toward Talavera and Spanish right Flank. They eventually took the town. It was a Glorious French Victory.

 My last game on Saturday was a typical TheSwordandtheFlame(TSATF) scenario set in the Northwest Frontier(2nd Afghan War). We had to march a British caravan through a Pass.

 A view from the Afghan side. They start out hidden.

My unit fighting off a charge by the Pathans. We didn't get through the pass, but by end of game, the Pathans didn't have much left to stop us. It was a very long and bloody game. Gamemaster didn't turn the cards fast enough to keep the game moving. We were exhausted after playing for some five hours.

Hope you enjoyed this brief look at Historicon 2014. Thanks to all the Gamemasters for putting on the games. Not sure I will make the next Historicon, but one never knows.