Flintcon 2022 some photos and observations

       Flintcon 2022 has come and gone, and what a good time it was! R.U.P. and I set out in the early hours that Saturday morning (despite the 2F temps) and made the trip northward from Detroit to Flint. Rod Cain (the relentlessly energetic organizer of the convention) was on hand to greet everyone as they arrived and pressed me into running my Thirty Years War naval game in the first session as there had been a cancellation. As a naval game is easy to set up I happily agreed and found myself with seven players before I had finished setting things up. 

       The hall was busy but not too crowded and the usual excellent Flea Market was well stocked and busy (I confess to buying a few items despite my commitment to reducing the Lead Mountain). There was a wide array of historical, fantasy and science-fiction games to choose from simple two-player games to large multi-player formats. Some truly excellent games were on show (as you will see below). I ended up running my game in the second session as well which left me little time to check out the other games on display so I handed my phone to my assistant editor J&R who was kind enough to gather some photographs of the action. I do apologize to anyone whose game was overlooked.

 

to my eye this was the winner for "most attractive" game

 a representation of the fight for Little Round Top with beautifully rendered terrain and troops

 

the opening moves of my first game, the Spanish fleet has the weather gauge 

but the Dutch stand in the way of their access to the shore

 

early on the more maneuverable Dutch decided to close and begin firing on the Spanish

 

but the upwind slog took a while to get withing range

 

as the Dutch finally came into range the Spanish had a decision to make;

endure the long-range gunnery or turn to the south and make this a close up fight

 

being better equipped for a short-range fight the Spanish turned into the oncoming Dutch

 

 

this rapidly developed into a wild melee which left me too busy for further picture-taking, 

in the end it was a winning draw for the Spanish

Deadzone: The Battle for Blightwater, presented by Adam Kinne; this series of games featured four separate games, each on it's own unique terrain

55 Days in Peking using The Men Who Would Be Kings was presented by Michael Wedding, this game used 20mm figures and  a very nicely done Chinese village

Horizon Zero Dawn, Hunt for Thunderjaw presented by Adam Koziel. This intriguing game walks the line between a boardgame and a minis game (although I have to admit that it has some impressive minis that come in the box)

Assault On Little Round Top  Fire & Fury was brought to us by Jeff Drummond. The table was very well done with proper elevation modeled on the surface and detailed to almost a railroad modelling standard. Possibly the nicest tabletop that I have seen in years

 

here we see the table without the trees

Freeblades was presented by Scott Gubbins, this fast-moving game system pits small bands of fantasy characters against each other using innovative rules mechanics and had some nicely done terrain to go with it. Bastion Gaming Center regularly host this game on alternate Tuesdays.

Conquest,  Last Argument of Kings was presented by Ian Campbell. This fantasy game system features a line of marvelously sculpted bespoke miniatures that are roughly 50mm tall (well, the humans at least) and is aimed squarely at massed battles rather than skirmishes.

 

 

 

the minis are great

 

and brilliantly painted as well

 

Chris Maes brought us a Modern Skirmish modeled in 20mm, he had some very evocative terrain

Triumph, The Battle of Marathon was presented by Brian Peruski and Larry Weichel it featured hordes to beautifully painted 28mm figures and two rather grand triremes

 

Star Wars using a modified version of Full Thrust was brought to us by  Aaron Cain, it featured some cleverly made control panels that tracked all the data that the ship captains needed.

Black Powder Napoleonics featured the Brits and the French slugging it out in the Peninsula. I love hordes of pretty figures

Battle Tech Alpha Strike, Desmond Woolston of  Riders Hobbies hosted this presentation of the venerable but ever-popular Battletech. Armies of well painted robots battled over a nicely laid out board.

25mm Battletech combined the advantages of having a 3D printer and access to a wide array of stl files. The result was visually stunning with some models reaching over nine inches tall!

Mike Ovsenik had a delightfully detailed 28mm town (and train) to go with the Gunfighter's Ball rules (look, there are even proper seats on the train!)

 

another view of the Little Round Top table

 

and yet another view, this time with the game in progress

       It was good to see a strong turn-out and a loads of happy faces. Perhaps the "New Normal" may be livable after all.