Blast from the Past: HOTT at Historicon 2016!

 Back in 2016 Ren and I played in a Hordes of the Things (HotT) tournament on Sunday at the conclusion of Historicon 2016. It was a lot of fun, and I took plenty of pictures.

These days, Hordes of the Things is being replaced by De Bellis Fantasiae (DBF) from the same folks. I really liked HOTT, it was a generic fantasy system that played very fast games and required few figures, it really encouraged imaginative and inventive army designs. I have high hopes that DBF will hit that same itch. 

This was a 25mm tournament, which for HotT meant 60mm wide bases. I decided to really test how flexible HotT was, and I wanted to encourage Ren to give it a try, at the time he preferred historical games. So I put together two matching army lists for World War I armies, one German the other one British. I think it went great!

This game was run by David Schlanger with NASAMW. If anyone has contact with him please drop me a line. :)

The "Krazy Krauts", my HotT Army, WWI Germans.
The pillbox in the center was the stronghold. 
These were plastic 1/72 scale figures, primarily WW I Germans from HäT. The Taube I bought used, I don't know the manufacturer.
I called them the "Krazy Krauts" because on my high school swim team
some teammates called me the "Krazy Kraut."

"The Division", Ren's HotT army, WWI Brits. 
Again plastic 1/72 scale. The figures are primarily WW I British from HäT. The tanks are Battleground Flames of War, and the Sopwith Camel is Revell Germany.

I considered playing this army, the "Black Thunder Company." Some of my old AD&D players may recall it from the Mercs campaign. I was planning to run it originally, it is a more traditional "fantasy" list, but since Ren decded to play I thought matching armies would be better. These figures are primarily Revell Set 02567 Swedish Cavalry and Revell Set 02566 Imperial Artillery. This is definitely an army I will convert soon to DBF!

The opening match ups. A six player tournament!

Ren's first game was against the "Evil Army of Malevolent Horror!"
(I loaned this player my castle as a base). 

Ren begins to advance "The Division" against his foe. 

Ren's tank turn his foe's right flank. 

Casualties mount as "the Division"
faces down the "Malevolent Horror"

Ren's British World War I force is victorious in his first game!

For my first battle, my "Krazy Krauts" faced off against 
"Her Majesty's Mechanical Marvels." 

My "Krazy Krauts" advanced. I loved this game, our armies were 
very on theme with each other. And my opponents miniatures and models
were simply superb. As a long time Victorian sci-fi fanI was loving this . 

Perhaps I was too star-struck. Or perhaps I needed tanks of my own. 
Regardless I was soundly defeated. 

Ren's second game was against "Magicians' Union, Local 666."
His opponent had a very cleverly designed and built army with lots of magical fires.

Ren ended up getting burned!
The "Magicians' Union" defeated his British list.

My second game was against the "Good Army of Valourous Hope!"
Happily for me, I crushed their hopes and handily defeated this army. 

With one win and one loss each, for the final round
Ren and I were paired against each other.
Brits versus Germans!

Ren smiles as his tanks crush their way through my lines.
He won a convincing victory!

As you can see, Ren pulled a strong second place showing out of the tournament.
In contrast, I pulled a distant last place. Ah, well. :)

This remains a great memory and a fun Sunday tournament. It was quick and collegial, perfect for Sunday morning and a wonderful way to end Historicon 2016.

I miss the days when Historicon was being held in Fredericksburg. For us, it is far more expensive, and not as fun, up in Lexington, Pennsylvania. 

Blast from the Past: Flames of War Historicon 2016

 As the pandemic continues to rage, I am continuing to share images and stories from the club's past, until we can all get together and game on the regular again safely.

In the past, when Flames of War 3rd edition was THE game with a vibrant tournament scene, Eric of the I-95 Gamers ran a doubles tournament on Thursday during Historicon, a sort of warm up for the national tournament that was run on Fridat and Saturday.  

Allen and I (Paul) played as a team during the I-95 doubles tournament at Historicon 2016 (Allen in I appear in the video at the link, during the tournament, at the 5:35 mark. I'm in the neon yellow shirt, he's in the dark green, on the right). 

Many of the club members played in the team tournaments, I don't recall everyone who played that year (please, comment below with the other teams!)  but I know Chris and Ken also played that year, in matching humorous shirts. The I-95 doubles tournaments were more relaxed, and frankly more fun, at least for me, then the national tournaments.  

In 2016 it was a Late War tournament.  Allen ran a company of Soviet IS-2s, and I ran a Cossack company.  We didn't do particularly well, we lost the first game hands down, but we managed to win the last game.  The middle game still kinda sticks in my craw. It was a 'fair fight' mission, the other team basically sat and shot at us, never trying to seize objectives, then they asked for the victory based on losses, despite never going for the objectives. The game should have been called a draw.  But They played on our sense of sportsmanship and took the win.  But, as Allen later said, "No reason to end a game with animosity. It be what it be either way it was enjoyable. lol"

So, we end with 1 in and 2 losses, rather then a 1-1-1 record, and Allen, of course, was right. 

Here are some pics from our games.

Allen, Rudel is still strafing your IS-2s!

I really liked the way my Cossack figures came out. 

Love the look of my 
Katyusha rocket launchers in
this picture.

Dismounted Cossacks facing Nazi armored cars...

Allen's IS-2 and tank riders were wonderfully painted.
Sadly, they all burned... in this game!

Cossacks charging machine guns... ended as one would expect...

Our advance was stymied!

In the final game we just massed everyone 
in one spot and charged forward. We thought
someone would survive to seize objectives and they did.
At the top you can see our Valentines.

IS-2s and Cossacks on the march!

Our lone victory! Bloody but ultimately successful.

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Blast from the Past: "Tanks on the Matanikau" at Historicon 2015

"Tanks on the Matanikau" at Historicon 2015
The only Japanese armored assault on Guadalcanal.

I thought posting photos from some of the convention battles club members have run in the past would be a good way to keep the gaming spark alive as the pandemic keeps in person gaming to a minimum.  And I thought I would start with a game from Historicon, 2015.  

From 2012 to 2017 Historicon was held in Fredericksburg, Virginia, home town of the Spotsylvania Area Gamers.  For all of those years, as a military historian, I presented lectures as part of the Historicon War College. For most of those years, I teamed up with fellow club member Wayne. I presented a War College lecture on a specific battle in the morning, and that afternoon Wayne presented a large miniature wargame reenactment of that battle, using Battlefront's Flames of War 3rd edition rules for convention goers.  

I still love these lecture/game combinations, though we haven't been able to do them since Historicon moved back north to Pennsylvania.  I thought they were a wonderful combination of education and fun. The games were always gorgeous because Wayne is such a skilled painter and terrain builder.  

In 2015, I lectured on the Guadalcanal Campaign, and then Wayne presented a wargame depicting Nakaguma's attack on the Matanikau on 24 October, modified slightly to give the Japanese a bit more of a chance. 

The lecture room was a but small in Fredericksburg, but 
that meant it always looked full! I usually had 20 or so attendees. 

We paired the lecture with a game run by Wayne and Allen.
I wrote up the scenario and the lists. 

Players and onlookers gather...

Wayne admires the gorgeous board he made.

The Japanese armored commander was young but experienced.

Soon the game was in full swing.

Japanese tanks were shelled on the sandbar.

Japanese infantry reached the river.

Marines dug in.

Marine 37mm anti-tank gun positions.

Marine 75mm self-propelled guns back up the 37mm guns.

Full Japanese assault!

Banzai!

Most of the Japanese tanks burn...
but not all and the American anti-tank guns are all destroyed...

Japanese vicory... casualties for the Japanese were 75%+

The empty field...

Our wargame proceeded nothing like the historical action, but that was fine, the players had fun and they learned about the Guadalcanal campaign. For those interested in learning more about the Guadalcanal campaign themselves, The Marine Corps' History Division has produced several history that can be downloaded as free pdfs.  These include Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal: History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II, vol. 1, First Offensive: The Marine Campaign for Guadalcanal, and The Guadalcanal Campaign.  The best single volume history of the Guadalcanal campaign, in my opinion, is Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle by Richard B. Frank. It makes solid use of both American and Japanese sources. 

Of course, today the Matanikau outlet looks very unlike 
the jungle river of 1942.

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.