Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes; Pro or Con 2021 a quick review

       What a pleasure it was to walk through the doors of the Elk's Lodge in Plymouth and see a host of familiar faces and rows of tables waiting to be adorned with toy soldiers! Conventions are back at last.  As was to be expected turnout was lower than in years past but better than one might expect. There were many games on offer and everyone was soon happily rolling dice and moving troops about.

 

Russian fighters on the prowl

       I presented my 1930s air combat rules Red Stars and Rising Suns with a scenario that had a Japanese attack against a road convoy being intercepted by a Russian fighter patrol. The players picked up on the rules right away and were soon busy shooting each other out of the sky.

 

the Russian fighter sweep spots the Japanese intruders and prepares to engage

 

the Japanese strike force consists of three light bombers and three fighters flying top cover

 

right off the bat the Russians score a lucky long-range hit and flame out one of the Japanese fighters

(we promptly recycled the aircraft andplayer to keep him in the game)

 

the Japanese replied with a head-on firing pass that scored a hit against the Russians,

killing the pilot outright (he got brought back in as reinforcements as well)

Russian cannon fire took a heavy toll on the highly flammable Japanese bombers

The Soviets did not escape untouched as one suffered a Special Hit which started a fire

the "Rugged" rule saved the Ratas from enduring too much damage

the combined firepower of two Claudes managed to flame-out an I-16 as the last of the Japanese bombers proved to fast to catch before it got away to strike the truck convoy causing minor damage

 

other games that I only had a chance to peek at; Form on Admiral's Wake presented by Jeff Przybylo

huge fleets of lovely ships of the line

 

a huge and very nicely presented ACW game 

presented by Mark Magdowski and using Brother Against Brother rules

 

deals were to be had in the flea market

I scored this pile 

 

and ancient treasures made an appearance as well

anybody else remember these?

 

Rod Cain brought his eye-popping Battle of Hydaspes game down from Flint 

using the popular Triumph rules and hordes of beautiful figures

 

elephants, lots of elephants, elephants are really cool

 

not that there is anything wrong with having a bunch of chariots either

 

battle on an epic scale

 

the battle of Kadesh was presented by Chris Maes using his home-brewed rules 

another visually pleasing game with simple but highly effective terrain

       I apologize to everyone that presented a game I missed out on snapping a picture of, they were all very well done and very attractive. In particular I want to thank Gary Nichols for presenting "You're No Daisy"; a cowboy shootout game using his own I'm Your Huckleberry rules that was so visually compelling and thoroughly engaging that (even though I was playing in the game) I failed to take any pictures. This was a most excellent game and everyone should pressure him into bringing these rules to the market, they were simply superb!

         Next local Convention is Spartacon, January 8th 2022. It sounds a long way off but with the holidays I will be busy enough putting together a game to present! Mark your calendars and check your snow tires!